これらの暗い翼 Korera no Kurai Tsubasa
by Chi Haku
Summary: The moment Ame met Yoh Asakura she knew he would be trouble. As one thing turns to another, Ame finds herself caught up in a world where you can't trust your own shadow, and saving lives means taking them. RenOC RenxOC RenAme ON INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Chapter 0

"What are we going to do…?"

The whimper did not fit with the male's voice. It was a voice with a tone that demanded calm and composition, the kind of voice you expect a really good counselor to have. But now that voice was drenched in worry and fear, soft and timid as it was directed at the boy's companion.

"I don't know."

The other's voice was cool, and sounded, on first hearing, completely neutral. But as one listened once more, they would notice the slight shake, tiny quiver of unsteadiness that most certainly had no place there.

"B-but…we can't just…just IGNORE it…"

"No, we can't…"

There was a shuddering breath from the one with the stronger voice, and he laid a hand on the shoulder of his companion.

"We're lucky he's alive."

"Not for very long."

A third voice joined the other two, this one dismal and dismissive, sounding utterly defeated.

"How is…?"

"It's as bad as we feared. No, I lie, worse."

The boy whom the timid voice belonged to wailed, and the sound was oddly musical, sorrow dripping from every note.

"Hush little brother… We… We'll figure something out."

Earlier, the tremor in the second voice had not been so prominent, but now it was there without a doubt.

The rain beat down on the asphalt around them, soaking everything stupid enough to be willingly out in the downpour. The three figures were, however, underneath an old rest area awning. The tin roof made the rain sound a thousand times louder than it actually was, causing a racket worse than the thunder.

Not one of the three males minded much though, there were far more important things on their minds. The tallest of the three (the owner of the third voice), had his hands tucked into the pockets of a long white coat, blue eyes downcast and sad. He did not seem the kind of man to willingly show emotion to anyone for any reason, and yet now there was an overwhelming kind of disheartened expression on his face.

"I fear…I have lost the battle once more…"

The boy who own the second voice lashed out, hand gripping the forearm of the elder man.

"Never say that." he said sharply. "You did not lose the first time, nor shall you lose this time. If you, as our healer, lose hope, then what have we to believe in?"

The elder male only nodded once.

"Do you know of ANY cure? ANYTHING?"

The first boy had returned to the conversation, shaky as ever.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea."

Again, the boy whimpered, and this time the second boy pulled him into a protective embrace.

"So then what do we do? We can't just leave him like this."

His voice remained sharp, as if that was all he could muster at the moment.

"I…do not know of a cure at the moment. As soon as I have discovered something, I will inform you as I always do."

Another whimper and the arms holding the other tightened almost instinctively.

"Are you saying we can do nothing?"

A grave nod.

"For the moment, I fear so."

The rain came down hard than ever and whatever else the triad might have been saying was drowned out by the pelting droplets so intent on drowning the earth. As thunder rumbled and lightning flashed through the sky, the rain intensified and came down with the force of a hail storm, making walking for any human not only insensible, but dangerous. Lightning ripped the sky open, electrifying the whole world and lighting up everything all at once.

As soon as the light died down, the rest stop was once more visible, but the three figures whom had previously been standing there had vanished.

Some miles away, in a small house just out of the way where no one would find it, a young girl sighed.

"Raining again?" she murmured. "Even I need a little sunshine sometimes."

Reaching up on the tips of her toes, she pulled the window shut, latching the top so that it would lock. Soon enough, it was impossible to see out of the window for the rain, and nothing but the sounds of the loud booms and the flashes from the lightning could even prove there was a storm outside the muddled window.

The girl watched the window for a long moment before sighing again.

"A little reprieve from the rain really WOULD be nice…" she muttered once more.

But the heavens didn't listen to her, the downpour only worsening to a point that one couldn't even see their own hand in front of them through it. Above the howling winds and crashing thunder, one could almost hear wailing, as if somewhere above the clouds, someone was crying in agony.

**oOoOo**

**A/N:** Title: これらの暗い翼 With These Darkened Wings

Not a whole heckuva lot to say for myself. ._. This is the start of a new story, as you can see. I was going to write this other one...until I realized that I had NO FREAKIN PLOT FOR IT. ...I'm giving myself an hour window to come up with a plot, then I'm just gonna stick with this one. =_= Yeah. I might even write both... (First time for everything, I guess...)

FIRST PERSON TO GUESS ALL THREE OF THE PEOPLE GETS A FREE ONE-SHOT!


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter One:_ In which a new student arrives

The morning was a dull gray, clouds busily trotting through the sky overhead, making sure not even a hint of sunlight could hit the world below. Main street was still packed, despite the horrid weather conditions, making one wonder what could cause so many people to rush around so fast. The city still brimmed with life, even this early in the morning, children and adults alike bustling down streets and down side alleys.

On a small street just off of Main, there was a small house, the front of which was modeled to be a shop. The owner of the house had turned this area into what looked like a study or office combined with a personal library, and there were curtains over every window. No blinds that could be adjusted to let light in, just plain white drapes.

The door between the more home-like area of the building and the front was open, and didn't truly look like it had ever been closed, and light was shining in from the next room.

A young girl stood by a gas stove, plucking absently at the sleeve of her uniform shirt, tugging off a useless string. The kettle on the stove was boiling water, and beside it a pot of rice was quickly finishing itself up. Next to the stove, a small canister of cinnamon and another container of what looked like brown sugar sat, milk carton behind them.

It about almost seven (not really, it was six twenty-five) and it was a surprise to see someone so young up and ready so early, especially on such a dreary day. But the young girl hardly seemed perturbed by the time or state of the weather, appearing much more preoccupied about whether or not her water was boiled yet.

The whistle on the kettle went off and the girl looked up from her sleeve. Standing straight from where she had been slumped against the counter, she walked over, picking up the kettle and shutting off the flame before pouring the hot water into a waiting cup. Steam flowed up over the rim of the Japanese porcelain cup once it was filled, but the girl didn't even blow on it. She switched off the flame beneath the pot of rice, scooping the rice into a bowl and pouring milk over it.(1) A spoonful of sugar and a dash of cinnamon followed, before she stirred the bowl of rice and put everything away. She took a spoonful of the hot breakfast and dipped the tip of her tongue into it.

When she apparently found her food to be too hot, she put the spoon back into the bowl and returned to her leaning position on the counter. She picked up her cup of tea, blowing on it and awaiting both the tea and the bowl of rice with milk to cool.

I'm sure that by now, dear reader, you are wondering what a young girl is doing up at six forty-five in the morning, make breakfast and drinking tea, in an apparently deserted house. I'm afraid a full explanation would mess with the plot, but I can tell you this.

Ame Kurotsuki had always been alone.

As long as she could remember, she had really never had anyone. There was the occasional helper, the odd person who decided they wanted to aid her in some way, but really, nothing more. And as sad as it sounded, Ame was alright with that.

It had been so long since someone had so much as held a conversation with her for ten minutes, she didn't even remember what it felt like to have someone.

Ame lived alone in this small house, parents long dead, and if she had any relatives, they never spoke to or of her. As far as she knew, she was the only member of her family (had there BEEN other members?) still alive.

Sighing, Ame tugged a hand through her unruly peony locks, glaring momentarily at them. It was rather ironic, she found, that her hair was pink, as she hated the color with a passion. Luckily, her hair fell under the "punk" pink category instead of the "girly" pink category. Letting the long bangs that nearly covered the right side of her face fall back into place, Ame took a sip of her tea.

"Ow. Damn water." she hissed. "Shouldn't have put it on such high flame."

But Ame put her water on that hot every morning, and every morning, like clockwork, it brought about the same response without fail. It was a small jolt back to reality from her thoughts, one that usually wouldn't come until some miscellaneous time during the day otherwise.

Putting her tea down, Ame picked up the bowl of rice with milk, now sufficiently cooled, and started eating. Despite the fact that her bites were miniscule, the food seemed to disappear in five minutes flat. Food gone, her tea went next, then both dishes were left in the sink for cleaning later on.

She disappeared into another one of the back rooms, returning with a bag slung over her shoulder and a set of keys in one hand. Ame flicked off the light as she left her room, then the kitchen light, and stepped out into the front. There was no point in bothering to shut the door between the shop-area and back-area because no one was coming in either way, so she left it as it was.

Pausing only to snatch one of her school books off the table and put it in her bag, Ame opened the divider between the counters and stepped out, then shut it again. She crossed the area between the counter and the door in quick strides, as if she couldn't be bothered with moving too fast or too slow. Shutting off the lights in front as well, Ame opened the door and stepped outside, turning to close and lock the door behind her.

She stuffed her keys into her bag and started walking, completely ignoring the clouds overhead and the distant sounds of the city. Her eyes didn't stray from the path before her, and her hands remained in the pockets of the jacket she had pulled on over her uniform. If anyone had actually stopped to look at her, they would have seen a businesswoman, not a fourteen year old girl, already in high school.

.:+.+.+:.

The first bell rang through the school, but Ame brushed it off with a roll of her eyes. She had been in the classroom for twenty minutes already anyway, it was impossible for her to be late so what did she care?

Her jacket was gone, folded into a small square and left in her shoe cubby for her to grab when she left school later on. The bag she had worn rested against the leg of her desk, which was in the far back corner right next to the window. Ame's eyes remained on the book she had pulled out to read, even as people started filing into the room.

It wasn't until the teacher entered that Ame even glanced up from her book, and not until the second bell rang that she put it away.

"Good morning class."

The teacher hardly even sounded awake, let alone happy about it being morning.

"I hope you all had a good weekend."

Ame sighed to herself and crossed her arms on the desk, looking back out the window. Same old drivel, wasn't it? Could people not honestly say what they were thinking how they wanted to say it? She was honestly sure that it would be far more interesting for both the students and the teacher if she would just say what she meant.

But, then again, Ame thought, that would probably get her fired.

"And class, we have a new student. He just transferred here so please be nice."Ame inwardly snorted. Like anyone was actually going to listen and be nice. Please.

"Come in and introduce yourself."

Ame looked up in time to see a boy of about six or seventeen entering the room. Immediately, hushed voices started chattering all over the classroom, and truth be told, Ame could really see why.

The boy was beautiful. Not really her type, but most certainly beautiful. His skin looked as though it was naturally pale, with just a touch of a gold tan, hardly there at all. His eyes were a deep brown, like melted chocolate, and they held a soft, sweet air to them, as if just one look could make your problems disappear. His lips were drawn up in a small smile, causing a mischievous aura to surround him.

He wore the school uniform like it had been made for him, and everything about him was pristine. Even the headphones holding back his brown hair didn't look out of place for some odd reason.

"Hello. My name is Yoh Asakura, pleased to meet you." he bowed.

His eyes caught Ame's for just a second, and for the first time in a really, really long time, Ame felt like someone was staring right through her. She tore her gaze away from the new students quickly, looking back out the window, trying to calm herself.

"There's a seat by Ushio in the third row." the teacher droned. "You may sit there."

But the Asakura boy completely ignored her and darted down the median between the third and fourth row of desks towards the back. A little too late, Ame realized that he was intent upon taking the empty seat beside her, and could do nothing to stop him when he did. Unfortunately, if the teacher did notice, she didn't care.

Turning back to the board, the teacher started to write their lesson, voice turning into a dull rumble in the background.

Yoh turned in his seat to face Ame with a small smile. He held out his hand.

"Yoh." he said softly, as if should the teacher hear him she would care. "And you are?"

Ame looked at him as if he had three heads. Could the boy NOT see that she was obviously not the first person he wanted to be talking to? Hello! She was sitting in the back of the class, alone, staring out the window like she couldn't be bothered with life.

Ame just scoffed and turned back to the window, completely ignoring his existence.

*If I ignore him, he'll get the message and go away.* she thought coolly.

If Yoh was offended, he didn't even remotely show it.

.:+.+.+:.

The end of the day made Ame sigh with relief and slight boredom. Home was not much better than school in the way of entertainment. Truly, it was either relearn ninety-five percent of what she already knew, or sit at home reading what she had read of a hundred times before. (Or contemplating the meaning of life.)

Throughout the day, Ame had been horrified to find that Yoh didn't leave her side once. In fact, the boy seemed to magically materialize wherever she was and just not leave her alone. He was in just about all of her classes, even the same lunch periods, and he seemed to be a bloodhound with her scent on his mind.

It was like Yoh had taken that one little catch of the eyes and held onto it like it was a lifeline.

*Home never seemed so damn appealing.* Ame thought bitterly.

The young teen traipsed silently and swiftly down the hall towards the front of the school, focusing on sticking to the shadows. The rain had started up again at a slow pace, not quite drizzle, more heading towards a storm, but not there yet.

She made it to the cubbies without too much trouble, and got to her own cubby with no interference. Then of course, as he had been all day, Yoh popped in.

"Hello Ame." he said with his usual small smile.

Somewhere during the day, he had found out her name (most likely from a teacher), and hadn't even started with the usual "Kurotsuki-san(or chan)" she was used, just straight to Ame. And, as she had been all day, Ame ignored him.

"Do you walk home alone Ame? It's not safe to do that when it's all dark out."

Ame sent him a withering glare, before returning to the task of putting on her shoes and pulling on her jacket. The jacket she had grabbed had no hood so it was likely she would be soaked from neck up by the time she got home, but she didn't really care. It was better than moping over it or doing what the rest of the girls were doing, coercing some guy into walking home with them so they could use his umbrella.

Some women were just disgustingly shameless.

Ame swung her bag over her shoulder and made for the door, shouldering past a group of boys vying for one girl's attention with a scowl. One boy looked like he was about to offer to walk her home and she glared darkly at him.

When she got to the door, Ame was dismayed to find that not only had the sky gotten darker but the rain had gotten heavier. Now it really did look like the weather was heading towards a good-sized storm.

"Wonderful." Ame muttered.

She stepped outside and immediately felt herself get drenched. It was officially raining hard and her hair was now soaked flat. Growling, she was about to crush her pride and raise her bag above her head, when the rain seemed to suddenly stop.

For a moment, Ame was confused, until she glanced to her right and found Yoh standing there, umbrella in hand.

"It's really coming down out here Ame." he said. "Let me walk you home, yeah?"

Ame thought this kid had to be brain dead. Had he not gotten the message that she wanted NOTHING to do with him? What possibly made him think she'd let him walk her home? Hell, what gave him the right to even talk to her?

There were plenty of OTHER girls fighting for his attention, and really, Ame couldn't blame them. Against her better judgment, she had to admit, Yoh was drop dead gorgeous. (Again, not her type though.)

However, she had been keeping herself in check all day, not saying a word to him if she didn't have to. Because really, she would prefer not getting in trouble for yelling at the new kid if she could help it. The teachers hated her enough already.

But right now she couldn't help it.

"Why don't you go ask one of your fan club Asakura?" Ame snapped harshly. "I'm sure they'd love you to walk them home."

To Ame's utter shock, Yoh just cocked his head to the side and answered;

"Well, yes, but I'd like to walk you home."

…It was official. He HAD to have some kind of brain damage.

"Bug off Asakura." she hissed.

Turning on her heel, Ame walked briskly away from the new kid at her school, rain once more soaking her from shoulders up.

She just kept walking like that until she got around the corner, double checking none of her peers were around, before pulling up her bag and resting it over her head. Not that it was doing her much good, but it was better than nothing at all, she figured. After all, the walk home couldn't possibly get more miserable than it already was.

And in fact, the walk was really miserable. Cars drove too close to the sidewalk, sloshing water up which in turn splashed over her legs, and the rain seemed to change directionality every five minutes. She would angle her bag one way and the rain would start coming from the opposite way almost instantly.

The rest of the way through the shortcuts she took would probably have been worse, if she had had to walk the rest of the way like that.

The fact that the walk was so terrible was probably the reason that when someone was suddenly standing between her and the sidewalk, blocking any more unexpected splashes, an umbrella over her head, she didn't snap at them. Instead, she simply let her bag slip back to her side, hands fisting into her pockets, as the boy beside her kept a steady pace with her.

"…" she was silent for a moment then, "I really hate you Yoh Asakura."

To Ame's annoyance, she could practically HEAR the gin in his voice.

"I know."

**oOoOo**

**A/N:** 1- My mother calls it aros con leche. It's a mexican dish, really yummy.

MUAHAHAHHAHAH.  
Chapter one is now out in the wild. FEAR MY ABIGIOUS PLOT BENDING SKILLS.

No. Ame will not hate Yoh FOREVER. I love him too damn much. Just for a little while though, tis necessary.

And thankfully, I'll be seeing mah Opacho soon (Hopefully...?) so I should be able to work out the last few kinks in the plotline and then I'll really be cranking these chapters out.

...Yeah. I have chapters two, three and possibly four already plotted out in my head. Shut up.

DEDICATED ONCE MORE TO **DrCerealKiller**(on dA) BECAUSE I MAKE HER FLUFFY. 3


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two:_ Wherein everything changes

For most, a month long period would give them time to get to know a new friend and become truly acquainted with them.

However, it had technically only been three weeks, and Ame had no intentions of getting to know Yoh Asakura better, let alone call him a friend. In fact, almost seventy-five percent of the time she wanted to take his school regulated tie, wrap it around his neck, and strangle him with it. Very thankfully, Ame had wonderful self control and had not, therefore, killed her shadow just yet.

And yes, Yoh Asakura was very much her shadow.

She had long ago given up Yoh's ever so annoying habit of walking(following) her home, in favor of simply ignoring him on the way there. Even on the days where the sun was shining (or as much as it shone in the rainy seasons) he seemed to decide to follow her like some kind of lost puppy. Had she been anyone else, Ame would have found it creepy.

Yoh had also picked up the habit of finding her no matter where she was. Class, the halls, lunch, study hall, he even seemed to know when she slipped outside to sit in one of the trees that surrounded the play yard. He just materialized wherever she was and stayed there until she once more moved. At which time he would also move.

More than anything, Ame really hated the general public that followed Yoh around, and due to the fact that he followed her around, also followed her. In less than a week he seemed to have a fan club made up of admirers of both the romantic and academic kind.

Yoh was good at sports, foreign language, orchestra and just about everything else. That was whenever he was actually trying anyway. Most days he either just spaced out all the way through class or slept, not that teachers ever seemed to mind. When Yoh actually did try, he always got the right answers no matter what, so it didn't make much of a difference.

Ame decided that she REALLY hated Yoh Asakura. Yoh, unfortunately, did not share her sentiments.

"Ame! Good morning!"

Ame resisted the urge to roll her eyes in irritation. You'd think Yoh had learned by now that she didn't, and wasn't going to, respond to him.

The smiling face of Yoh Asakura appeared in her peripheral vision as she pulled off her shoes and windbreaker.

"Did you have any trouble with the homework? I thought the geometry was difficult."

"It wasn't so bad." Ame remarked.

She had taken to the occasional answer every now and again, simply for the fact that he would bug her to death if she didn't.

Besides, there were times when Yoh wasn't SO bad. Like when he was discussing homework, or sitting underneath the tree she was in dozing. Sometimes he was actually quite enjoyable to be around, until his happiness started to get to her, then Ame went right back to not being able to stand him.

"Well you're just good at math Ame!"

The fact that Yoh was childish enough to stick his tongue out at her made Ame smirk, which seemed to delight her companion. It seemed any kind of general reaction that wasn't anger or hatred from Ame directed at him made Yoh exceedingly happy. …Which in her opinion was sort of weird, but she had generally accepted that Yoh was a freak by now.

"Well, new day. Wonder what they're going to re-teach up today, neh Ame?"

But sometimes, he was a freak who she could REALLY get along with.

.:+.+.+:.

Ame stared up at the once more cloudy sky, wondering how long the rain would last this time. This season's record was six days running, and it looked like this time was gonna be a doozy. Not that Ame particularly minded, it just meant she'd have to give up her place in the tree till the lightning died down again.

"Wonderfully." she muttered blandly. "Spending my days indoors with my "peers". Woop-dee-do."

There was a laugh from beneath her and Ame didn't have to look down to know who it was.

"Ame, you should really give people a try."

Ame rolled her eyes.

"And you should try absence of emotion Yoh, you might seem less brain damaged."Another laugh, which at this point no longer annoyed her.

"People aren't so bad Ame, they're actually quite likeable."

"You mean before they start glaring and calling you a freak because you happen to like black and Halloween over pink and Valentine's Day?"

She could feel Yoh's eyes fix on her from below and she tried very hard not to squirm. This was one of the few things Ame didn't think she'd ever really get used to about Yoh. Whenever he really wanted to look at you, look right damn through you, it felt like you were as naked as the day you were born. Like everything you did, no matter what, to shield yourself was pointless.

It was more than just a bit nerve wracking.

"Do people honestly not give you a chance?" he asked gently.

The was another thing she wasn't used to. While usually his questions were carelessly blunt, there were times where it seemed Yoh knew he was treading on thin ice without any kind of hint. He would instantly switch from being straightforward to being cautious and slow, taking baby steps towards what he wanted to know instead of just jumping in.

"No." Ame said shortly. "They usually don't."

"I did."

Ame snorted.

"You, Asakura, are a leech who has permanently attached himself to me. You hardly count."

And Yoh was back to laughing again.

.:+.+.+:.

"So Ame, what are you doing over the weekend?"

Ame finished slipping her shoes on and looked over at Yoh, before turning back to her cubby for her windbreaker.

"Nothing." she answered.

"Nothing? That's boring."

It was obvious Yoh was pouting from his tone of voice.

"Why don't you go out with me this weekend?"

Ame was about to spin around and give him the worst slap of his life when Yoh seemed to catch his mistake.

"I mean as friends! No worries, not asking you out."

Ame calmed down.

Yoh had learned the hard way that asking Ame on a date meant DEATH. Well, not death, but a really hard smack upside the head at least. Granted, Yoh HAD been kidding…but that didn't stop Ame.

"I mean, there's all kinda new movies out, and there's a ton of other stuff to do. C'mon Ame, you live right off of main street! Let's go do something!"

Ame zipped her jacket and turned to Yoh.

"One, no. Two, you only know where I live because you follow me home, and three, NO."

"Why not?" Yoh whined.

"Because I have better things to do than waste my day with you Asakura."

"Such as?"

"Homework."

"You finished it all in class. I was there remember?"

…Well damn. She forgot sometimes that Yoh was either sleeping or watching her during class.

"But the answer's still no, isn't it?"

Picking up her bag again, Ame threw it over her shoulder and started towards the door. She knew Yoh would follow, not that she cared, and she also knew he wouldn't press the issue. He understood that sometimes you just drop it and let it go.

The sky was quickly darkening thanks to the clouds, and it was getting increasingly colder as the winds blew. Ame didn't mind though. It would still be a while before the rain started, and that gave her ample time to get home and stay dry.

Sure enough, Yoh was once more by her side in under three minutes, humming some random tune to himself. While she wasn't too fond of Yoh jabbering, she had to admit, he had a pretty voice, and his singing wasn't half bad.

The walk back home was pretty much uneventful by their standards. There was no random outbursts of laughter from Yoh, which meant no random whacks over the head with a textbook by Ame, and no bullies accosted them. The gorillas seemed to have finally gotten the message that Yoh wasn't exactly going to leave Ame alone any time soon, and two was even stronger than just the one.

Ame could kick their asses. Yoh AND Ame could kick their asses twice.

As they turned down Ame's street, Yoh suddenly stopped. For a second, Ame contemplated just walking on and ignoring her companion, but then decided, well, what was there to lose?

Pausing in her steps, Ame looked back at the elder boy.

"What's wrong?" she asked coolly.

"…Nothing. Never mind."

Ame raised an eyebrow. Yoh never just…brushed stuff off. He was very articulate about his feelings and his being. Whenever he was asked how he was, he would answer in a chipper voice and a lot of words. Never had she heard him just brush it off like that.

"You sure?"

"Yeah…yeah I'm sure…"

But he really didn't sound sure at all.

Once they reached Ame's door, Yoh stopped by her steps, like he always did. However, unlike normally, Yoh leaned forward and kissed her temple, before pulling her into a half-hug. Ame was shocked and thoroughly confused by this as they had come to a basic understanding that physical contact wasn't allowed. Then, Yoh whispered something that totally threw her off;

"Be cautious. And lock your doors tonight."

Suddenly, the warmth of Yoh's body was gone and he was walking away, raising a hand to say goodbye over his shoulder. Ame stared after him in utter confusion until he turned the corner and was gone.

.:+.+.+:.

Ame swallowed the last drop of her miso soup and murmured the after dinner prayer before placing her dishes in the sink. It was Friday night, she'd do them in the morning.

What Yoh had said earlier was true, Ame had finished all her homework that day in school, leaving her with really nothing to do. This was why Ame really, REALLY hated the weekends. There was never ANYTHING for her to do. At all. So she was pretty much left at the mercy of her own thoughts until further notice, and for those who knew Ame Kurotsuki (not that many did) that was a bad, BAD thing.

Ame ran a hand through her hair as she retreated to the front shop-area, dropping into an over-stuffed armchair she had put in there for comfort's sake. Yoh's words from earlier rang through her head like someone was playing them in her head over a loud speaker.

'Be cautious. And lock your doors tonight.'

What the hell did THAT mean? Ame always locked her doors, she wasn't stupid. She was right off of main street, people tended to rob places like hers. Unless…

Ame glanced at the door, at the second deadbolt that had been there for as long as she could remember living here. She never paid any mind to that lock, it was big and heavy and unnecessary. Besides, it was a bitch to open and close every morning.

For a good five minutes, Ame just stared at the second lock, bronze glittering innocently in the lamplight. There was no way Yoh could know about this second lock. He'd never been inside her house, and you couldn't see it from the outside. So, really, she had to just be over thinking this. He couldn't really mean lock THIS lock too…

Despite what Ame was currently, continually telling herself, she found herself rising from her sitting position and padding across the floor to the door. Lifting her hand hands, she pressed the door forward and pushed the heavy deadbolt into place, waiting until she heard the telltale thunk to pull back.

She stood, staring at the door, for a good minute before whacking herself on the forehead with the heel of her hand.

"Great Ame. Now you're locking your door because that guy told you to. Real smart."

But the lock was already in place, and it really WAS a bitch to undo so…

Turning around, Ame went back to her chair and curled up in it, staring at the far wall, which was blocked by her bookcase. She found her eyes locking on random volumes, reading their titles subconsciously and then forgetting them again in less than a second. Slowly, without her realizing it, her eyelids started to slid shut, drooping lower and lower until her eyelashes touched her cheeks.

Ame wasn't quite sure just how long it was that she slept, but she knew she woke up at around seven thirty five, still curled in her chair. At first, she just blinked herself back into wakefulness, until she realized that she was sleeping with her knees pressed up against her ribs with her feet rested on one of the chair arms.

Uncurling herself from her increasingly uncomfortable position, Ame stood straight once more, raising her arms over her head and stretching her back. She yawned, still a third asleep, before walking slowly into the kitchen.

As she set the water on to boil, she rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand, yawning again. She hadn't realized she'd been so tired. Usually, she could stay up no problem, but lately she'd been getting increasingly sleepy. All the end of the year testing must have been starting to get to her, stamina or not.

Leaning back against the counter, Ame crossed her arms over her stomach and tilted her head back against the cabinets, closing her eyes. She let her mind wander wherever it wanted, keeping one ear open for the sound of the kettle whistling. As expected, her thoughts drifted from school to Yoh Asakura, which they did with increasing frequency as of lately.

'Be cautious. And lock your doors tonight.'

Ame's eyes opened to stare up at the ceiling.

If Yoh was warning her about something, why do it in such a confusing way? What could he possibly be warning her ABOUT anyway? Lock her doors and be cautious? Hadn't Yoh known her long enough by now to know that cautious was practically her middle name.

"He's never warned me about anything before." Ame murmured to herself. "And he was acting funny on the way home…"

It wasn't that Ame particularly liked Yoh, nor that she trusted him. But despite all her efforts to push him away, Yoh had become one of the few constants in her life. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot in her world that really WAS a sure thing that would never change, her life wasn't exactly stable, so Ame took what she could get. And Yoh may annoy the crap out of her, but she knew if she lost him she'd miss him.

Which was weird. Because she was always telling him that she wouldn't care if he just dropped off the face of the earth. …Then again, Ame had a very skewed way of showing her affection.

The tea kettle went off and Ame glanced over at it, wondering briefly what kind of tea she had decided on, then cursed.

*Great job genius!*

Turning off the water, Ame threw open onto of the cupboards and started rifling through it. She flipped through the various teas she had in stock and finally decided on chamomile with honey and quickly pulled out a tea bag. Throwing it into the first mug she saw (a "Have a Nice Day" one she had picked up at a garage sale because it was large and barely used) she picked up the kettle and poured water in.

Leaving the tea to brew, she opened her fridge and pulled out the milk, then took a clean looking spoon from the sink. After pouring milk and two spoons of sugar into her tea, she put everything away and sighed.

*Okay, so, no homework, no social life and no extra credit to do…*

Ame tapped her fingers on the counter, waiting for her tea to finish brewing.

*I guess I could always finish that book. I need to give it back to the library by Monday anyhow…*

Taking the mug into her hands, Ame slowly padded her way back towards the front of the house, watching the liquid in her cup.

She paused on the threshold of the next room, looking up when she heard a kind of scraping noise. At first, Ame couldn't figure out where it was coming from, until she looked at her door.

One of the locks was open.

For a moment, Ame just stared, before her brain kicked into play. Her first thought was burglars, and she was suddenly very happy she had pushed the deadlock into place so many hours ago. But then something happened that Ame was no expecting.

As she watched, horrified, but transfixed, the deadbolt slowly, centimeter by centimeter, pulled back, as if someone were standing there, pulling it open. Ame's next thought was, that can't be real. No one could open a door from the inside when they were OUTSIDE, and no one, NO ONE could open a deadbolt like that.

No one. No one human.

Frozen in place, Ame watched as the lock clunked back into place in the unlocked position. Then, ever so slowly, the door started to be pushed open, further and further until it was suddenly slammed back, crashing into the wall with a loud bang.

There, standing in the doorway, was something that was most certainly not human.

It was huge, for one thing, seven feet tall, ten, if it had been standing up straight as opposed to slouched over like it was. Huge knuckles scraped at the ground, boney fingers limp in a half fist, foot long nails tapping against fat wrists. It had no lips, revealing huge cinderblock teeth with four tusk like fangs, two reaching down, two up.

Its eyes were wide and red, with no eyelids and no whites, just pure red with slit black pupils. It was covered in black skin (or was it scales? Ame couldn't tell), pulled taunt over jagged bones. It didn't seem to have any innards, at least in the gut area, because she could plainly see its ribs and spine.

For a second, neither she, nor the creature moved, but then the thing opened its mouth. What it said, grating voice, like broken glass getting rubbed against steel, would be something Ame would never forget.

"_I know what you are."_

The "Have a Nice Day" mug crashed to the floor, breaking the yellow smiley face cleanly in half and shattering the words beyond recognition. Scalding tea splashed against Ame's bare feet and little bits of porcelain bit into her skin.

Ame turned and ran.

She wasn't quite sure where she was running, but she knew her first instinct was to get the hell out of there as fast as she could. Her feet hurt, the combination of hot and sliced flesh not exactly making running easy, but she kept going. For the first time ever, she cursed how big her house was.

Behind her, Ame could hear the thing coming after her, but she paid no heed, slipped behind a bookcase and through a door only she knew was there. It had once been a shorter route to the front and now served a good way to get to the back. She barely made it before the thing came crashing into the room.

Dashing across the back room, Ame wrenched desperately at the back door, before remembering it was locked. Cursing under her breath in about three different languages, Ame finally got the locks open and tugged at the door. The rusted hinges didn't feel like moving though and Ame could have screamed.

"OPEN!"

Almost as if the wind itself was following her command, the door slammed inward, leaving her a free path to the back alley.

Ame was out and into the street in milliseconds flat, dashing down the alley and as far away from her house as she possibly could. The pavement was cold, wet and unforgiving beneath her bare feet, but she didn't care, just ran. She ducked down a side street, through another one, not completely sure where she was going.

If Ame had been paying any attention, she would have noticed the inane lack of people on the streets for such a time of night, and the lack of lights on in windows. She would have also noticed the silence all around her, save the rain splattering down onto the ground. But Ame wasn't paying attention to anything but getting away as fast as she could.

Had she been, what happened next might have played out a little differently. In fact, if she HAD noticed that suddenly a bustling town full of life had gone silent as the grave, our story would not be taking place.

The first thing Ame noticed was a sudden shooting pain in her abdominal region, quickly followed by a searing shot of what felt like liquid fire racing up to her heart and stabbing. The scream that would have followed was cut short by the lack of oxygen as Ame fell to her knees, then flat on the ground. She choked on the very air, eyes wide and staring, before gritting her teeth.

She tried to push herself up on her elbows, but only succeeded in rolling herself over onto her back.

The first thing she saw was the flames, dancing high into the night sky, illuminating everything in a sharp, eerie glow. Ame wondered, briefly, when the fires had been set because surely, SURELY, they hadn't been burning this whole time…she would have remembered wouldn't she? Would have noticed if the world was lighting up in flames behind her…

But the fires were reaching higher, licking into the sky and swallowing whole buildings in giant gulps without even the tiniest bit of trouble. Glass shattered as if someone had smashed it with a hammer, only to be melted and greedily slurped into the fire as well.

And then there was the thing. It was there, standing in front of (behind?) Ame, and had it been more humanoid Ame could have sworn it would have been smirking triumphantly.

*Great.* Ame thought. *I'm gonna die and the last thing I see is the bastards ugly mug. Wonderful.*

There was another stab of pain to her heart and Ame shrieked as her back arched. Only this time, the pain didn't go away, it stuck around (probably just to piss her off, knowing her luck). Each time her heart beat, it was like someone was stabbing her in the heart, over and over and over again. It was enough to drive her insane.

Slowly, her vision started to blur and she turned onto her side, weakly trying to minimize the pain, or curl into a small ball, she couldn't even tell anymore. Ame coughed and she tasted blood in her mouth, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Her vision was going fast, and as she watched, the creature started walking towards her, taking its sweet time.

Just then, something fell from the sky. Or, that's how Ame's fogged sight and mind took it. Really, someone jumped from god only knew where, landing squarely in front of her.

As Ame watched, the person rose into a standing position and braced their feet. She tried to scream "No! RUN!" but her voice wouldn't work properly. She only succeeded in coughing up more blood and getting another few agonizing stabs in the chest.

As the figure rose, the creature stopped in its steps, and to her shock, growled, loudly. Like a cat when cornered, it seem to raise its hackles in…fear? Then, as Ame watched in pure shock, something shot out of the newcomers back, two somethings.

Ame assured herself she had to really be out of it, because what she was seeing couldn't possibly be REAL. On the person's back was a pair of, what appeared to be, huge, feathery, white wings. As this (she convinced herself) apparition, appeared, the creature howled and stepped back, raising its arms as if burned.

The winged figure turned their head to look over their shoulder to look at Ame and she caught a glimpse of their face as she fell into darkness.

*Yoh…?*

**oOoOo**

**A/N:** OHHHHHHHH. Yeah. Giant timeskip was necessary, shaddup.

LOOKIT DAT! AN EBIL SUMTHIN CAME AFTA AME! I'm so freakin' original.

But more importantly...PLOT STARTS NEXT CHAPTER! : D DONT SAY YOU AREN"T EXCITED!

I think Imma make **blog55**(on dA) draw the creature thingy...cause she likes drawing creepy crap like that. (And I love her enough to puppy-eyes her into doing it.)

And on that subject, **DrCerealKiller**(on dA) is drawing this story a cover! :'D Ain't she an angel?

Chapter three...GO! *runs to write more*


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three:_ The Secret Identity of Yoh Asakura

Everything was bleary as Ame awoke. At first, she couldn't properly hear anything but a soft rumbling mumble of sound. If someone was talking, she couldn't tell at all. Her sight returned next, but that was just as fogged as her hearing, and everything was blurry.

Ame had no idea where she was, or what was going on, but she thought, through the heavy blanket that seemed to cover her thoughts, if this was heaven, it kind of sucked. Wherever she was laying wasn't necessarily hard, but it wasn't as soft as her mattress (which was actually pretty lumpy, but whatever), and the cloth covering her wasn't exactly the warmest either. The pillow under head her felt more like a rolled up jacket than a feather pillow, and she could swear that was a button pressing against her ear.

Ame shifted slightly, then decided that was a stupid and VERY bad idea, because it sent pain ricocheting down her spine. Slowly, as she woke more and more, mind clearing, even if her vision wasn't, Ame started to realize something. As the thought registered, it sent Ame reeling into serious shock.

She was alive.

For some, inexplicable, insane, fucked up reason, she, Ame Kurotsuki, was alive. That thing had not killed her and she had no idea why.

The last few moments of her wakefulness came rushing back to her then and she froze up. The figure, the wings, the thing backing up, then…Yoh's face…

Ame's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright, regretting it instantly as her ribs throbbed painfully and a pang raced up from her stomach. She unconsciously yelped in pain, eyes closing in pain, arms giving out beneath her as she fell backwards.

Instead of falling hard on her back however, she felt someone catch her, and was only half-aware as her head was rested in someone's lap. Ame groaned softly in pain, raising a hand to rub against her eyes. Her hearing was clearing up and she now knew what the rumble she had heard earlier was, it was the sounds of an engine. Ame was in a car.

Ame blinked her eyes open again, slowly waiting for them to adjust to the light and return to their usual state or not being blurry. Whoever's lap she was resting on didn't seem to mind waiting for her to recognize them, just stroked gentle fingers through her bangs and against her temples. Had she been at full strength, Ame would have smacked the hand away, but seeing as she WASN'T exactly, she let it slide.

Besides, it DID sort of feel nice.

Slowly, her vision cleared itself until only the outlines of things were blurred. The first thing Ame noticed was brown hair, then molten chocolate eyes. There was only one person in the whole universe who looked like that, or at least, only one that Ame knew.

Yoh Asakura.

The image of Yoh, winged and defending her from that beast flashed through her mind, and for a minute, Ame's heart stopped. At the time, it hadn't been too hard to convince herself that she had been hallucinating it all, after all, she had been dying. Even if she had truly been seeing right, it wasn't like she'd be around long to KNOW it.

But now that she was here, very much alive, head resting in Yoh's lap, in an unknown vehicle going Gods only knew where, it was a different story. The thought of Yoh with those huge wings was becoming more and more likely sounding the longer she stared at him. In fact, the whole idea seemed to be a lot more possible as she caught the gentle glint of silver that she had never before noticed in his eyes.

It was barely there, just a sort of flash every few seconds. If she hadn't been staring into his eyes, waiting for her vision to go completely back to normal, she wouldn't have even noticed. But it was there, no matter how much her vision cleared, that momentary streak of silver, rippling around his irises, then gone.

*Okay…* Ame thought, trying to keep calm. *Let's assess this situation…*

Which would be a wonderful plan and all if she knew more than just bits and pieces about what was currently going on. But, naturally, she did not, so she was pretty much on her own to fill in the blanks.

*So. You get home. Sleep, wake up, make tea, get attacked by big ugly monster thing. You run for your life, only to get attacked and fatally wounded. Then as big and ugly tries to kill you, Yoh magically appears, sprouts wings, and saves your life. …Or something. Oh yeah, and earlier, Yoh said to be cautious and lock your doors. Yeah.*

Ame paused in her thoughts, going over everything again.

*….Okay. What the fuck.*

Vision finally cleared, Ame could get a clear view of what was around her. She seemed to be in the back of a truck, a nice one, all shiny and black, with a matching black camper on top. The windows on the camper were open though, allowing wind to whip in. They seemed to be driving on a highway, and from the lighting outside, it looked to be somewhere around noon.

Eyes falling back to Yoh, Ame carefully fixed her gaze. Yoh seemed utterly unperturbed, hand still petting gently, expression calm as could be. He was wearing jeans, ripped in one knee, but he was sans a shirt, only a necklace of what seemed to be three bear claws hanging around his neck. His headphones too, that were so usually behind his ears, just waiting to be put on, were gone, letting his hair fall free.

Had Ame not known it was Yoh, she would never have guessed it was him. Even his eyes were different, more hardened and determined than their usual impassive selves, and his small smile was gone as well.

Ame opened her mouth to say something, and suddenly there was a gentle finger against her lips.

"Not a word Ame." Yoh murmured. "You'll damage your throat more."

More? When had she damaged her throat? She remembered coughing up blood…

"You inhaled a lot of smoke." Yoh continued. "And the poison was starting to get into your bloodstream."

Poison? Smoke? What smoke? Why had there been-

The image of the town, the place where Ame had decided she would at least stay for her few high school years, deluged in fire came back to her and Ame's eyes widened. She still could not recall when the fires started, nor how they had started, but there was no doubt in her mind that they had been there. Everything was becoming clear in her mind, at least…Almost everything.

"Just think it Ame." Yoh said softly, moving his hand back to petting her hair. "I'll hear you."

Ame would have questioned such a statement, anyone would have, honestly, but Ame was getting the impression that she should really just agree with whatever Yoh said. It seemed that he alone was the one who knew what the hell was going on right now, so if he said she could just think things and he'd know, she'd believe him.

But there were so many questions to ask, so much Ame wanted to say. How the hell did he know that she needed to be careful that night? What was that thing? Was it what she thought it was? Had it really said…that? Did he know what she was too? What had happened to the town? What had happened to HER? Why was she alive? Who…?

*_What are you…?_*

Of all the questions, that was not the one Ame had meant to ask. At least, she had planned on wording it a little differently, for Yoh's sake if no one else's. WHAT are you was a little harsh, she should know, WHO are you would have been nicer, but…

Yoh smiled sadly.

"I should have guessed you'd start with the one question I'm not supposed to answer yet. I'm sorry Ame, the answer to that is going to have to wait a little while. Can you think of something else you want to know?"

Well no shit she could, but that was sort of the thing she REALLY wanted to know right now. But Yoh was stubborn as a bull, she knew that. If he said he wasn't going to tell her, he wasn't going to.

Okay. On to question two then.

*_Where are we?_*

"Currently? In the back of Silva's pickup truck, driving down the highway at about seventy-five miles an hour."

Ame just sort of stared until Yoh supplied;

"Silva's the guy I told you I was living with."

*_Your "kind of" guardian?_*

"Yeah that guy."

When Ame had asked who Yoh lived with (considering she'd never heard tell of nor seen parents or siblings) Yoh had simply said he had a "sort of" guardian who he lived with. Ame hadn't exactly brought up the subject again. She knew what it was like to try to keep the whole "teen on their own" thing a secret.

*_So…care to explain how I went from dying to back of your sort-of guardian's truck?*_

"Not particularly."

Ame's glare would have sent anyone else screaming for their mommies, but this was Yoh Asakura, so he just chortled and ruffled her hair gently.

"But I can fill in a few blanks for you."

_*Please, do.*_

"For one, I'm sure you're wondering about my earlier wondering."

Nod.

"I figured. The truth is, I sensed that thing stalking you, but I didn't think it was so close. I thought just telling you to keep an eye out would be enough for that night, but…" his expression turned to a slight frown. "I was planning on telling you everything tomorrow…well, today, but…Okay, on Friday I was planning on telling you everything Saturday, which is today. Make sense?"

_*The day thing, yes, everything else, not really. Tell me what exactly?*_

"Everything. Today was the day I had planned on taking you away, I'd been planning it for weeks now, but…Well. I was thinking more we'd be sitting here talking about something totally different than you recovering from death."

_*Since when do I willingly talk to you?* _

"You know what I mean Ame."

Ame would have shrugged, but she still didn't have the physical energy.

_*So, what happened after you sensed large and creepy stalking me and failed to mention there was a demon on my ass?*_

If Yoh caught her calling the creature by its proper name, he made no more mention of it than a small curling of his lips.

"Well, I went home, and some hours later, I sensed as you so called him "large and creepy" stalking ever closer, but I didn't think much of it." Yoh's expression turned dismal. "And I apologize for that…Had I come sooner, none of this would have happened to you."

_*I'm used to getting the shit beaten out of me. No biggie.*_

Yoh winced, as if he was recalling the memories of getting beaten up, not Ame. Not for the first time in the last ten minutes, Ame wondered exactly who Yoh Asakura was.

"I…I came as quick as I could when I realized just how close it had gotten. But by that time you were already out of the house and running. I was frantic, I don't think I've ever been so freaked out in my life." he shook his head. "I took off after the thing, but by the time I got to you, it had already attacked you. I think you can guess what happened next."

_*You appeared in your white and gold armor, o shining knight, defending me from the evil dragon and saving my fragile life?*_

"Something like that. Only a lot less fairy tale like and a lot more realistic."

_*Well at least I was TRYING to be positive.*_

Yoh laughed for the first time since they had started speaking.

"You being positive is like me not sleeping through class."

_*That's a LITTLE harsh don't you think?*_

Another short laugh.

Ame didn't think she'd ever been so glad to hear Yoh laughing again. And that was weird. Because usually she hated him laughing.

Huh. Maybe her head was still a little foggy.

_*…I just realized. This is the longest conversation we've ever had.*_

Yoh grinned wryly.

"So it is. That's…"

_*Sort of depressing?*_

"Uh…yeah."

_*Yeah I know.*_

Ame felt a dull throb against her temples and closed her eyes with a slight wince. It seemed that as soon as everything else cleared up, a huge headache decided to come into play. Then again, she had hit her head pretty hard on the concrete, though the pain of that had pretty much been cancelled out by the pain of the demon's attack.

Well, it certainly wasn't been concealed now. In fact it seemed more than happy, perhaps GLEEFUL, to jump up, laughing and shouting "LOOKIT MEEE!"

"Go back to sleep Ame." Yoh soothed softly. "When you wake up, I will tell you everything."

Ame wasn't sure if she should be reassured by that statement or terrified, but she unwillingly felt her eyelids drooping, as if someone else were telling her body to fall asleep. It was only when she noticed the silver glimmer once more in Yoh's eyes that she realized that yes, someone was telling her body to go to sleep.

She just then remembered why she oh so hated Yoh Asakura.

.:+.+.+:.

When Ame awoke again, she found the sun outside had dipped beneath the horizon line in an exquisite sunset. The car had been stopped and she had once more been placed on the small futon cot and on top of what she quickly gather WAS Yoh's shirt for a pillow.

Gingerly, Ame sat up, glad when she found that not only did the wound not hurt her, but the throbbing in her head had gone down considerably as well. Ame figured she was probably in about as good a shape as she was morning after she had had a throw down with the town punks. Beaten, but not as badly as those she'd been fighting.

Looking around, Ame realized that the car was sans an Asakura, meaning she was all on her own, assumedly.

Pulling off the blanket, Ame crawled her way over to the doors of the camper. There was enough room to sit up comfortably on your knees, but not nearly enough to stand up straight, so she had to make do with crawling. (Thanking god that no one was around to see her at the moment.) Ame tried one of the doors, and, finding it unlocked, she pushed it open.

She quickly slipped out of the back of the car and onto the ground, which turned out to be asphalt, with a soft thump. She winced as she landed on her feet, having forgotten that not only were they also injured, but she wasn't wearing any shoes. In fact, Ame was only wearing a pair of way too baggy blue jeans she kept around for wearing around the house and a black t-shirt, and it was cold outside.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Ame looked around at where exactly she was.

Where exactly she was turned out to be an old gas station, not quite abandoned, but by no means busy. It was one of the more out of the way places, the ones that look bad but are actually a lot more homey than the rest of them. They had obviously swerved off on some side road, because there was no way this was directly along the highway, it was surrounded by trees.

The gas pumps looked a million years old, and the store's windows were dark and dusty. As far as Ame could see, there was no one around at all. There weren't even tire tracks in the dirt road behind her.

For a moment, the thought of being abandoned here struck her as quite possible, until she reminded herself that A) people do not generally abandon people in brand new cars without any troubles, and B) this was Yoh. Ame couldn't even properly picture Yoh saying something mean, let alone abandoning someone who was injured and confused in the middle of nowhere.

As if to prove her point, the doors to the convenience store opened and first Yoh, then a man who appeared to be somewhere in his twenties walked out. The man had long black hair and looked to be of Native American decent, with soft brown eyes and tanned skin. He was a good looking man, even Ame could admit that, and for some reason, the idea of him being Yoh's guardian didn't seem so far fetched when they stood side by side.

"Is it really decent to be walking around without a shirt on Asakura?"

Yoh's head turned to Ame, confusion lighting his face before he grinned.

"Ame! You're up!"

He left Silva's (Ame assumed this was Silva anyway) side and dashed over to Ame, giving her a short hug which Ame neither resisted nor returned. Why she wasn't punching him for touching her, she wasn't yet completely sure. Maybe she was still half asleep or something…

"How are you feeling?"

Ame met Yoh's eyes, hers calm, his concerned, and for the first time she really realized that Yoh was generally a very caring person. He didn't ask things like if someone was okay unless he really meant it.

"Better." Ame answered. "Not my best, but better than I did a few hours ago."

The elder boy smiled.

"Good, I'm glad."

Silva had come to stop a few feet behind Yoh, watching the two teen's interactions. Ame noticed his eyes on her and she tensed slightly.

"So." she began. "Gonna introduce me to your "sort of" guardian Yoh?"

Yoh flushed slightly as Silva raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, Silva, this is Ame, Ame, this is Silva. He's actually my cousin…"

Silva held out a hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Ame, Yoh wouldn't stop talking about you."

For once, Ame decided not to be her usual cold self and accepted the handshake, though she said nothing in response. Just because Yoh trusted the guy didn't mean she did. In fact, she wasn't so sure she even trusted Yoh at this point. There was a lot of explaining to be done.

"Let's cut to the chase here." Ame began coolly. "Yoh told me the minimum of all minimums. So how about we start with where the hell you guys are taking me and why."

Yoh crossed his arms over his stomach, expression wiped clean of emotion instantaneously. Ame was taken aback by his suddenly serious attitude, Yoh had never really been one for the whole serious atmosphere before.

"You really don't leave us with much choice but to answer." Yoh said calmly. "Where we are taking you is Izumo prefecture, and as for why, for your own protection."

Ame raised an eyebrow.

"Izumo? Never heard of it."

"I doubted you would have. Izumo is protected by supernatural forces to keep most humans out someone like you, whom has been living amongst humans, would not have heard of it before. I however, call Izumo home, as does the rest of my brood."

Ame was getting more and more confused as Yoh continued to talk. She was used to Yoh being blunt and easy to understand, but he was being cryptic and secretive right now, and it wasn't serving her too well. In fact, if anything, it was making her very frustrated.

"Your WHAT?" she questioned.

"My brood, clan, coven, pack, whatever humans call a group of our kind these days."

There was the opening Ame had been waiting for all this time.

"And what ARE your kind Yoh Asakura?"

Behind him, Silva tensed, shoulders squaring. His entire demeanor changed to one of guarded caution, one that Ame knew well, it was the same that always preempted attacks, specifically from her. Fixing her eyes on the elder male, she sent him a cold stare, one that read "You don't scare me for a minute."

Yoh held up a hand however, and to Ame's shock, Silva relaxed.

*So the mystery thickens.* Ame thought to herself. *Yoh can read minds, kill demons and seems to have superiority over a guy at least ten years older than him.*

"Have you not yet guessed Ame?" Yoh countered her question.

Ame switched her gaze to Yoh, and they stared at each other, one gaze calm, the other cold. The silver that had earlier streaked Yoh's eyes was gone, leaving just the usual brown, but Ame knew she had not imagined it. Everything was slowly coming together in her mind, and she was just missing a few small pieces. If she was right however, Ame had no doubt that not only were things about to become considerably more complicated, but considerably more dangerous. And yet, the idea forming in her head was ludicrous, even in her eyes, and that was most certainly saying something. However, no matter how else she pieced the clues together, there was no other outcome.

"…What I think you are is impossible." Ame finally decided on saying. "And trust me, there's not a whole hell of a lot I think is impossible."

A small smile creased Yoh's lips.

"Trust me Ame, I know. And believe me when I say that impossible is no longer a word that can apply in any situation hereof. Take your best guess, I promise, the last thing I'm going to do is laugh."

Ame kept quiet, thinking to herself, watching Yoh's face carefully.

*Think Ame, there's gotta be a better explanation than what you're coming up with here. Seriously, this can't be it. Okay. Deep breath.*

Ame took a breath and closed her eyes, slowly putting the puzzle together in her mind.

*First off, Yoh can read minds, but isn't right now. It's a power he can control on whim. Two, he can heal.* he mind darted momentarily to her stomach wound. *There's no way this healed so quickly on its own. Three, he can kill demons. And four, he can magically sprout wings.*

Ame opened her eyes again, but kept her gaze trained carefully on the ground, trying hard to find the one missing piece.

*There's only one thing missing….one question I need to ask, then I'll know for sure.*

She held up a finger.

"One question Yoh."

"Ask it."

Their eyes met again and Ame hid the emotion from her eyes.

"Tell me truthfully, what happened to me. I know I was dying, but did you manage to heal me before I died, or did something else happen and you just aren't telling me?"

Yoh's eyes flashed with something Ame could only call pride, like a parent who had just been asked a very intelligent question by their child.

"Ame, you never cease to amaze me with your mentality." he said, smile rising on his lips. "You've almost got it haven't you?"

Ame did not reply, uncomfortable with the familiarity she was starting to notice in the way he spoke. Yoh acted as if he had known her forever, as if she was someone he had been keeping an eye on for a long time. But that wasn't possible unless… Well, unless Ame was really as royally screwed as she thought she was.

"To answer your query Ame, yes, I did heal you, but only after the fact." Yoh continued. "And to answer your unasked question, yes, you DID die." he grinned. "And I brought you back."

The final piece fell into place and Ame swallowed nervously.

*Congratulations Ame. You are officially royally FUCKED.*

"You're a….but….no." Ame shook her head. "Impossible. No such thing."

"Why Ame," Yoh's smile had turned a bit sinister. "You know of demons, but you can't bring yourself to believe in angels? I'm insulted."

Dusk had fallen, and in the shadowy lighting, Ame could plainly see the area around Yoh's back distorting like a heat wave had suddenly appeared, rising outward and upward, then suddenly flashing to life. Where the distortion had been moments before were a pair of huge wings, perhaps thirteen, maybe fourteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. The feathers were a pristine white, shining in the fading light, dappled with an aquamarine aura. They were beautiful in a terrifying way.

Ame would have taken a step backward, had she not been already pressed against the truck's camper doors. There were a lot of things Ame believed in, a lot of things that she could comprehend, and yes, demons were one of them, but angels were something she just wasn't ready to allow into her life.

Not now, probably not ever.

"What's the matter Ame? You're staring like you've never seen something like this before."

"Well GEE." Ame hissed. "A kid I've known for three weeks saves my life, kidnaps me and sprouts wings, am I supposed to be taking this well by chance?"

Yoh laughed. Full out laughed, carefree and cool, like he did whenever he had heard Ame say something he thought amusing in school. But they weren't in school and so the laugh seemed a lot more creepy than cheerful.

"Oh Ame, drop the act." she said between a few laughs, before calming down again. "You can fool almost anyone, but you can't fool us sweetheart. You are no more a human than Silva nor I are, and you know it to. Or had you not noticed everything coming back, hm?"

*Everything…coming back?*

Ame tensed. He…he couldn't be telling the truth right? It wasn't all…coming back to her was it? Not after she'd spent all these years hiding, hiding from it, from them, from everything. That demon couldn't have been telling the truth when it said…

"Didn't you realize Ame? I only healed you until you fell back asleep, the rest you took care of on your own. I'm sure you remember the shape you were in when I had you fall asleep?"

*Terrible. …wait. He only healed me until I… No! No way! I can't have-*

"You've stared calling those demons by their proper name as well Ame. Before you played dumb and called just called them creatures but you've quickly forgotten that you were in supposedly human company and have called them demons more than once."

Ame was startled. Had she? She hadn't even noticed…

"But perhaps the most obvious reasons? Well for one, your mind didn't shatter when I entered it to listen to your thoughts so we could converse earlier today, but I think most convincing is one you just unwittingly proved." his wings extended slightly. "You're not in the slightest bit fazed by my wings, any normal human would be writhing on the ground in agony with their eyes burned out. Let's face it Ame, you're about as human as me. So fess up, who are you really?"

"I could ask you the same." Ame snapped.

She knew it was a poor comeback, but she wasn't exactly processing very well right now. Her whole world was crumbling down around her ears and Yoh knew it.

"Me? I'm Yoh Asakura, an angel, seventeen years old." he grinned wider. "But I've been seventeen for a pretty long time, as you can most likely imagine."

"Yeah." Ame growled. "I can imagine."

"So?" Yoh said cheekily. "What about you? Just who are YOU Ame Kurotsuki?"

Ame kept her mouth firmly shut. She was getting backed further and further into a corner and she was liking it less and less. Angel or not Yoh Asakura was starting to scare her, much as she hated to admit it, and there was only so long before she snapped and attacked him. Ame wasn't so sure how strong Yoh was, but she could imagine that a brawl between the two of them wouldn't exactly end well for either party involved.

"Alright, I'll answer for you, considering I already know."

Ame tensed. Great, that just meant he had one more advantage over her that she DIDN'T have.

"You're Ame Kurotsuki, fourteen years old, supposedly dead for the last twelve years, but obviously rumors lie. You've been hiding out amongst the humans since your parents dropped off the face of the earth for no apparent reason, keeping it on the down low that the last kitsune, one of the strongest yokai ever prophesized, isn't really as gone as some of your enemies would like to believe."

…

Well shit. He really DID know who she was.

If Ame hadn't been screwed before, she certainly was now.

"Yoh."

Ame's eyes snapped to Silva, who was glaring at the young looking male, a hand now on his shoulder.

"Stop it. Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you get to take it out on Ame. Apologize. NOW."

Yoh looked ready to argue, but sighed instead, shoulders slumping.

"I'm sorry Ame, Silva's right, I'm not in my right mind right now. I'm not used to being away from my family so long, it's taking its toll on me." he turned his eyes away. "I'm going to wait in the car, I'm sure any questions you have, Silva can answer."

As Yoh turned to walk away, his wings slowly folded against his back and shimmered out of existence. He took the long way to the passenger side door, purposefully keeping a respectful distance from Ame before climbing into the car and shutting the door. Once he was gone, Ame turned her eyes to Silva.

"I'm sorry." he said, repeating Yoh's earlier statement. "He's never been away from his family so long."

"How…does that change anything…?"

"Angels are very family reliant, especially those of them whom have died with someone else, a sibling or parent for instance. They will most likely keep close, but Yoh's a special case, he rarely leaves…well, you'll understand when we get home."

He motioned to the truck.

"Please, get in. If we get going now, we'll be there by about six or seven tomorrow, and trust me, the sooner the better. Though, I think a good night's sleep will do Yoh some good, he should be able to establish some contact during his dreams, and that should clear his mood I suppose."

Ame decided not to ask, because at this point, she just sort of figured, Izumo was where she would get all her answers. Swallowing the heap of questions that were appearing in her head, Ame turned and opened the camper door and climbed inside, shutting the door behind her. She went back to the small futon and curled up on it, closing her eyes. The engine started and Silva pulled the car out of the gas station and back onto the road, driving off into the darkening night.

**oOoOo**

**A/N:** Well there! Chapter three right on the dot! D

...

IS THAT PLOT PROGRESSION I SEE THERE? Why yes! I think it is!

(yay for anger issues!Yoh)

P.S. WHOLE NOT EXPLAINING KITSUNE THING: COMPLETELY INTENTIONAL. Quit your eternal bitching. *brick'd for YGO Abridged reference*


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four:_ Welcome to Izumo, the Protected Land

Ame took a bite of the hamburger in her hands, chewing slowly, and watching incredulously as Yoh wolfed his own cheeseburger down in seconds flat.

"Hungry much?" she muttered after swallowing her mouthful.

"Well, you gotta love a good cheeseburger! Besides, I got another!"

Ame raised her eyebrow, wiping a bit of ketchup off the corner of her lips with her thumb.

"You got TWO?"

"Mm-hm!"

"There's only one other person I can think of who eats more cheeseburgers than Yoh."

Silva's voice carried over from where he was standing, filling up the car with gas. They were currently stopped at another gas station, filling up both the tank and their empty stomachs, glad to be on the last leg of the drive. When Ame had awoken that morning (coincidently, AGAIN, at a gas station), Yoh had apologized about sixty times over for his behavior the previous evening, and after the twentieth time, Ame forgave him. He was obviously feeling a lot better now because he was back to his chipper self, and it seemed that the family issue had momentarily been resolved. He had even joined Ame in the back of the truck to keep her company, in the end pulling out two Nintendo DS systems and facing off with her in Legend of Zelda. (Where he got the systems and why he didn't remember that Ame generally creamed him at video games, she didn't know.)

The triad had made a quick stop at an out of the way strip mall (which for some odd reason had both a Little Ricky's and a Hot Topic) to pick up some new clothes for Ame. She'd ended up with a black and white striped shirt, a pair of black jeans, a reversible Cheshire cat hoodie and a pair of checker pattern Vans for her now-healed feet. Yoh had also bought her a locket on a silver chain, though he wouldn't tell her what for or why he wouldn't let her wear it yet.

They'd been back on the road by nine and here they were, several hours later, just another three or four hours away from Izumo, according to Silva.

Ame had decided, as soon as Silva presented her with a hot chocolate and an almond croissant that morning for breakfast without even asking what she wanted, that she really liked Silva. He was a nice guy, and seemed to be able to control Yoh's occasional bouts of hyperactivity, something Ame had never quite mastered.

Taking a sip of her vanilla shake, Ame rested her chin in her palm.

"Man I wish I had some music." she grumbled.

Silva looked up again, both to pull the pump out of the car and to acknowledge Ame's statement.

"I can turn on the radio if you want." he offered.

"Nah, you can't hear it in the back." Ame said, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. "Besides, I seriously doubt we like the same music."

"Yeeeah good point."

Yoh swallowed a large bite.

"But Ame." he said. "Can't ya just listen to your iPod?"

Ame rolled her eyes.

"My iPod was at home baka, remember? And home sorta burned down (I think)."

The subject of the burning town had not yet been breeched in their conversations, no matter how many times Ame tried to get Yoh to talk to her about it. Ame had pretty much gathered that the town was no more though, but a small part of her hoped, prayed, that maybe it had, somehow, survived.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?"

Ame looked over at Yoh questioningly, munching a bite of burger.

"I grabbed your backpack and a few of the things I thought might be important to you when I dropped by your house while I was looking for you. It's in front behind my seat."

Had Ame not had a mouthful of food, she would have gaped at Yoh in astonishment. Instead, she calmly turned away, swallowed her bite and placed her burger back down on top of the bag it had come in which she had been using as a makeshift tray. Slipping off of the tailgate of the truck she walked over to Yoh and whacked him soundly upside the head.

"BAKA."

"OW!"

Dashing around to the front of the truck, Ame opened the passenger's side door and looked behind the seat. Sure enough, there was her backpack, black and inconspicuous as usual, single "Metallica" button on the front. For a second, Ame just sort of stared at it in a mixture of shock and relief.

Ame had made it a point in her life not to get attached to things, she moved around too much. Stay in one place too long, demons came calling, and people started getting suspicious. The less of a trail the last kitsune left, the better. So when Ame had decided to settle down for four years to take care of high school, it had been a big risk, and had proved stupid as of two nights ago.

In all truth, Ame had never thought she'd be so glad to see something familiar, that reminded her of "home" per se. For a second, tears pricked in Ame's eyes, before she shunned them back to where they had previously been; hidden far away in the recesses of her mind and being.

Grabbing her backpack, she slammed the door and went back to the tailgate.

Silva had taken up residency on the other side of the tailgate, leaning back on the car, opposite the side where Yoh sat, finishing off his second (might have been third for all they knew) burger. Slipping back into her own spot, Ame unzipped her backpack and riffled through it quickly, looking things over.

There was her iPod, thank god, undamaged in all it's two by two inch neon purple square glory, still in the clear case and everything. Her headphones were there too, black and white Skull Candy ones, old fashioned styled, not the new ear buds of hell, and with them her pencil case and sketch book. Her textbooks were thankfully absent, but the three books that had been on her bedside table were there, including the one from the library.

Ame snorted.

"Well, the library's never getting THIS one back." she muttered.

"No, probably not."

She smirked as Yoh chortled, the closest she'd ever come to sharing a laugh with him.

There was something heavy in the front pocket and turning her bag around, Ame unzipped it to see what was inside. Her eyes widened and she gaped.

Inside was a small jewelry box, not more than five by three inches, plain wood painted black with ornate paintings of flowers and a dragon all in vibrant purples, reds, blues and greens. Of everything Ame had known she would lose, this was the one thing she had really been ready to cry over, and yet here it was, safe and sound.

"Is it important to you?"

Yoh's voice was quiet, gentle, as if just prodding for answer. Ame couldn't find words and instead just nodded her head noiselessly.

"It was the only thing in your house so strongly surrounded by your aura. It was almost as if it was trying to protect it from harm."

Without thought, Ame launched herself to the side and hugged Yoh around the shoulders, making him squawk in surprise.

"Thank you." she said in a truly joyful voice. "Thank you thank you thank you THANK you! You're the best Yoh."

Yoh, who seemed to have recovered from his shock, laughed.

"Thanks Ame. I'm glad I could make you happy."

Ame let go of Yoh and set back again, picking up her burger to finish eating.

"So where we headin' next Silva?"

"Up route and then north." he answered, taking a swig of soda. "Give or take an hour, I'd say we'll be there around five-ish."

"Sounds good." Ame said. "You don't mind if I finish up in the car, do you?"

"You're a neater eater than Yoh, so no, I'm all good. Getcher ass in back kids, we've got driving to do."

Yoh laughed and clambered in back, catching Ame's backpack when she threw it to him, then joining Yoh in the back with her food. Silva closed up the tailgate and camper behind them, then got back into the driver's seat, turning on the engine and starting them back on the road again.

.:+.+.+:.

"So…road to Izumo….randomly swerve off of highway and nearly hit deer and get you plus two minor passengers in back killed?"

"Uh…not usually the whole nearly hit deer and kill us part, no."

"But you randomly swerve off the highway."

"Generally."

"You continue to make me wonder how sane you are."

"I know."

Ame and Yoh were both gripping tightly to whatever parts of the car they could, flush against the walls, eyes wide and covered in a thin layer of cold sweat. The car ride had been going perfectly smoothly until, out of the freaking blue, Silva just swerved off the highway into the trees. At first, Ame thought he'd gone completely off his rocker, until of course Yoh explained that this was the only way to reach Izumo from the main highway.

…

Then of course a deer had jumped into the path and Silva veered off so as not to hit it, nearly causing them to drive straight off a cliff in a huge ravine that from the wreckage below had had a few past visitors.

Once Ame was sure they were safely on the road, she went back to sitting normally again, crossing her legs and leaning back against the side of the truck to stare out the camper's open window.

"You said that your whole brood lived in Izumo?" she questioned, watching the mountains behind them.

"Most of our brood, but not all of our clan. Our brood is of decent size, but we're a bunch of mishmashes, some of us are carriers."

"Carriers?"

"Angels who have changed clans. Some are born into certain clans but decide to change later on for various reasons. Take Silva's best friend Kalim for example, he came from the Patch Clan, but later decided to join Silva in our clan, the Asakura clan."

Ame cocked her head to the side.

"Didn't Silva say he was Patch too though? Doesn't that make him a carrier as well?"

Yoh smiled.

"You catch on quick, but no. Usually, if we are of mixed blood, we go to the strongest clan in question. Silva is half Asakura, half Patch, and while the Patch are strong, our clan is stronger."

Ame nodded her head, filing this information away.

"So carriers are those who switch clans of their own accord, those of half blood will go to the stronger clan, and what of broods? You mentioned them earlier."

"Ah, right, broods." Yoh grinned. "A brood is like a mini-pack inside a clan, people generally stick with one brood for life but changing isn't unheard of, and it's not as big a deal as being a carrier. You can only join a brood within your own clan though, and broods are usually pretty small with some exceptions."

"Do I need to even ask if your's is an exception?"

"I think you're getting used to how weird we are. Some clans are pretty huge, mine for example, so there's a lot of…uh…inner family issues. Broods tend to get pretty big cause we sort of…"

"Feud?"

"A lot."

Ame tried hard not to laugh. Yoh said it so calmly, like it was just a piece of information, nothing more.

"So…tell me Yoh, what're angels doing down on earth? Especially age old ones like you?"

Yoh flushed at her last statement.

"I'm not AGE old! Just…sort of old…"

"Sure you are."

Yoh flushed again.

"Right…sorry about that whole-"

"I said you were forgiven, so how about a bit of information here?"

Yoh cleared his throat and continued on to answer.

"Right, well, see, angels aren't dead people souls and crap. At least, not our kind of angels. Our kind are the sort who are born here on earth to do a job. Defending it from harm by hellish forces and all that bible crap. Basically, we're the supernatural police force keeping earth from turning into Sin City. When we die , THEN we become high and mighty shinies as my best friend so bluntly puts it."

"High and mighty shinies?"

"Angels of heaven."

"Oh."

Yoh turned to look out the window with a small smile.

"We age very slowly after we come into our powers, and by that I mean we can spend fifty or so years as just one age. We begin to age at a more human rate again for one reason, and that's when we find our mates."

Ame raised an eyebrow. There was a term she was familiar with.

"Mates…I'm guessing in angel terms we're going with SOUL mates?"

"That's right." he smiled softly. "If an angel's mate is mortal, then we start aging when they want us to. Say as an angel you were ten when you met your mate, but they were only eight. You could start aging with them then if they wanted you to, or, you could wait till they were ten, THEN start aging. Likewise-"

Ame held up a hand.

"Just to clarify; Aging, you mean aging faster?"

"Yes."

"Okay, carry on."

"As I was saying, in much the same way, say you were the younger and your mate was older, if they wanted you to be older than them or closer to their age, well, let's say you'd have an overnight growth spurt."

Ame smirked at the mental image.

"Unnnnfortunately, the fact of the matter is more often than not we don't recognize our mates on first appearance, sometimes is takes years, decades even until it just sort of snaps into place one day."

"Wow. You're as idiotic as mortals."

"Shut up." he stuck out his tongue. "Not ALL of us are moronic!"

"You?"

"Me?"

"You." Ame repeated. "Have YOU got a mate?"

"Oh, uh, heh." Yoh blushed red. "Yeah, yeah I do."

"Cute Yoh."

"Shut it!"

Ame just chuckled and went back to looking out the window.

"M'taking a nap Ame."

Ame was half glad that Yoh was going to sleep, as she had been planning on pulling on her headphones anyway. Doing just that, she shook her iPod to get it to play shuffle, then locked it and put it in her hoodie pocket, staring out into the afternoon glow. Despite herself, she was excited to see her new home, to see Izumo.

It was strange, to suddenly feel this inexplicable excitement at the prospect of meeting a bunch of people she had never even seen or heard the names of before. Ame had never been one for surprises, and she'd never been one to readily accept new things, but she was willing to make an exception here. And that alone was enough to make her wonder what four weeks under Yoh Asakura's influence had done to her.

.:+.+.+:.

Izumo was everything and nothing like Ame had imagined. It wasn't a big bustling city, but it wasn't a tiny town either. It was one of those perfect mixes that was just big enough. The entire prefecture was surrounded by wildlife, huge forests and giant mountains, deep lakes and flowing rivers around every bend. The occupants ranged in age and ethnicity alike, and they all looked like some form of medicine men.

"They're shaman." Yoh had quickly explained. "It's sort of a cover. You know how I said most humans weren't allowed in here (unless given permission by others)? Shamans are an exception. Their powers are enough to keep them safe within our barrier. That, and they're sort of our cover. People will come looking for shaman, not angels. Most of the town doesn't know what we really are."

Ame watched the changing scenery outside her window as they drove up the last hill towards Yoh's home, which according to a short conversation with Silva while Yoh was sleeping, was a lot more like a mansion than a home. Both males seemed to get more and more antsy as they got closer to their home, and the youngest of them wondered if it had to do with that whole family thing Silva had mentioned the night before. Yoh had said Silva had a cousin who was in their brood.

Ame herself was getting pretty jumpy, she had to admit. The excitement was still there, but now there was apprehension too. Yoh was but one angel and she was about to meet an entire brood, if not a clan, what would happen if they didn't approve of her?

She shook her head.

*No.* she chided herself. *Don't even think it. Just trust Yoh. Wait, whoa, WHAT?*

Ame started where she sat, music suddenly falling on deaf ears.

*TRUST YOH? What the FUCK?*

Ame had never told herself to….well. She'd never trusted anyone before, and she didn't(hadn't) really planned on starting now. But apparently Yoh had wormed himself farther through her defenses than she originally thought he had. It was something that made her both pleased and terrified at the same time.

"Almost there."

Yoh's voice was barely a murmur at this point, voice laced and dripping with liquid excitement. Apparently his desire to be home was even greater than he allowed it to show.

The next ten minutes went by in a blur for Ame, and suddenly they were pulling into the driveway of the mansion. And yes, it was a mansion, Yoh was insane if he was calling THIS a house. It was four stories high, and probably more than that that Ame just couldn't see, mapped out in traditional Japanese style. There was a giant wall around the whole property, but she could tell it was a lot more for show than it was for actually keeping people out.

*No doubt they've got some supernatural methods of keeping others from getting in.*

Yoh was up and out of the car before Ame could even turn to look at him, so, rolling her eyes, she followed his example and clambered out of the camper. Ame made sure to snatch her bag before she got out though, unsure of when she'd be near the car again, and not wanting to chance the loss of her possessions a second time. Fate tended not to give her second chances at anything, and she had learned not to trust it the first time around either.

Ame joined Silva as he shut the driver's side door, looking up at the huge establishment before her.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" Silva murmured.

The teen beside him nodded.

"Is this all…Asakura property?" she asked softly.

"Yes, it is, every last inch of it. Izumo is Asakura home base, if you will, it's where the clan started."

"Did Yoh grow up here?"

"I don't really know. Which time do you mean?"

Ame smirked.

"When he was an angel."

"Mm…I think he was raised elsewhere…But I was not here for his childhood, I joined the clan about a century or so ago."

"Yoh's more than a century old?"

"Yes. As am I and a majority of the people you are about to meet."

She glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye.

"How old ARE you?"

Silva laughed.

"Old enough to remember when Tokyo wasn't even a small town."

"That…is pretty damn old."

"Yes it is."

Ame blinked, then looked over at Silva, brow creased in confusion.

"But…Yoh said you weren't a carrier."

Silva grinned.

"That's Yoh, always trying to make others feel welcome. Technically, I'm not a carrier, by definition. Except, see, we didn't know I was half Asakura for quite a while, so I WAS a part of the Patch. That's why so many other Patch joined at the same time I did, I already had a small brood."

Ame was even more surprised.

"Your whole brood joined the Asakura clan?"

"Nah, just three others. There were ten of us, but we broke up rather quickly. Those three came with me because they were too damn stubborn not to. Well, not my cousin. He didn't have any other family so ultimately the decision was mine."

"I'm assuming he's younger than you?"

"You're a quick study."

"Just good at observing and deducing things."

All the while the pair had been talking, Yoh had been over by the gates, chanting something. Ame supposed it was some kind of incantation to open whatever unseen shield was around the doors and walls. She watched as Yoh finished chanting and stepped back a few steps, and the gates started to open.

They fully opened, and before Ame had a chance to even open her mouth and say something to him, a blurred shape shot out of the gates and tackled him with a loud yell of; "YOH!"

Ame blinked in shock, taking a step back even though she was a good ten feet away from the pair. From what she could assess, someone with long brown hair had just come flying from nowhere and attack hugged Yoh before he had a chance to react. Silva on the other hand, didn't seem at all surprised, or altogether perturbed by the occurrence, and taking his example, Ame didn't interrupt.

"YOH! YOU'RE HOME!"

"Gah! Yes, yes I'm home! Get off! You're squishing me!"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Oh please, as if, you're a twig and we both know it Aniki."

"Well then how am I squishing you?"

"Twig or not, you still have mass and therefore weigh something now GET OFF!"

There was a loud laugh and the boy with long hair got off of Yoh, reaching out a hand to pull him up. Once they were both standing, he pushed his long hair back so his face was shone and Ame's jaw might as well have hit the floor.

Either she was out of it, or she was seeing double, because the new boy looked exactly like an older, longer haired version of Yoh. Yoh seemed to have seen her shocked expression, because he dashed over and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards his look a like.

"Ame, this is Hao, my twin brother."

Ame stared at Yoh like he was out of his mind.

"And you CONVINIENTLY forgot to mention you have a twin?"

"Uh….yes?"

She stared for another minute before whacking him soundly on the back of the head.

"OW!"

"Baka."

It took Ame a minute to notice that Hao was cackling, and before she could so much as blink, he had attack hugged her, nuzzling her cheek.

"Aw, she's adorable!

"Geh-HEY! WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO HUG ME?"

"You did?"

"I MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT!"

Silva came up behind Hao, barely concealing his laughter before lightly tugging on one of Hao's long locks.

"Off her Hao, she's gotta breathe."

He let Ame go at this, deciding instead to going back to hugging his twin, which now that they were standing, Yoh didn't seem to mind all that much. Looking over her shoulder at Silva, Ame muttered;

"Is…this the family Yoh was so intent on getting back to?"

Silva nodded, but said no more, so Ame let it drop.

"Hey, c'mon, everyone's waiting to see you! And, meet you, Ame."

Ame raised an eyebrow.

"How do you-"

"Know your name?" he tapped his temple. "Yoh's nice, he only goes into minds when people want him to. I'm not as kind."

Ame tensed instantly, and her mental blocks flew up. Okay, she had officially spent too fucking long as a human if she had missed Hao invading her mind.

"OW! HEY! Warning, PLEASE! I don't want brain damage…"

Ame growled.

"Then don't go into my head next time."

"Ow…Geez…" Hao whined, rubbing his temples.

"I hope you've learned your lesson Aniki."

"Yeah, next time, don't tell them you're in their head."

Yoh sighed in defeat.

"Why did I even bother."

Hao grabbed Ame's hand, grinning at her.

"Anyway, let's go! Everyone's waiting!"

Ame allowed herself to be dragged along behind the Asakura boys, deciding that if Hao was anything like Yoh, he was going to be extremely stubborn, and there was no point in denying him anything.

He pulled her through the gates, and Ame got her first glance at the inside of Asakura Manor.

In front of them was a huge garden, stone lanterns traced around a small pond, which upon closer inspection, was full of koi fish. The entire place looked exactly like someone had cut out a picture of a traditional Japanese home from the feudal era and brought it to life. If Ame hadn't been more focused on the pair of angels in front of her, she would have spent a good hour just looking at the front garden.

Instead, she was pulled farther into the enclosure, through a long hallway and out into a small back garden.

At first, Ame couldn't tell what they were doing there, until she spotted a group of teenagers.

"Guys! Guess who's here!"

Some of the group turned around, and Ame was once more struck by just how beautiful angels were. If Yoh and his twin had not been an example of the kind of beauty that came with being an angel, then these people certainly were.

There was a boy with spiked blue hair held back with a headband, and beside him a green haired boy who looked a lot more like a girl. Behind them was a young girl with orange hair pulled back into ponytails, and next to her another pig tailed girl with long flowing blonde hair who looked like a china doll. Beside a boy looked to be of African decent was a girl with dirty blonde hair and caramel brown eyes wearing a red bandana over her hair.

"Hey! Yoh, you're back!"

The blue haired boy grinned, dashing forward to give Yoh a hug, the other teens trailing behind him. Ame noticed that they parted respectfully when the girl with the red bandana walked forward to Yoh's side, and Ame concluded that she was most probably the mate he had mentioned.

"Ame," Yoh said, gesturing to each person in turn. "This is Anna, my mate, Horohoro Usui, Joco MacDonnell, Lyserg Deithel, Matti, and Mari."

From the way Hao had instantly nabbed Mari and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, Ame could only guess that the blonde was his mate.

"A thing for blondes I see…" Ame muttered to herself.

"Yes they do."

"HEY!"

Ame raised an eyebrow as Hao went after Horohoro with a grin on his face.

Mari extended her hand.

"Hi, I'm Mari.(1) I'm pleased to meet you Ame."

Ame took the offered hand, shaking it gently.

"Nice to meet you too."

Anna offered he hand next.

"Anna. I hope my Yoh didn't give you too much trouble…?"

"You have no damn idea."

Matti cackled and Ame joined her with a small smirk.

"That's our Yoh! Your personalities seem pretty damn contradictory on first impression."

"Yeah…let's just say I whack him with textbooks a lot."

Anna nodded her head serenely.

"I greatly approve. Knock some sense into him, be my guest."

Ame decided, as she joined in with the three girls laughs (her own soft and gentle), that she liked these girls, a lot. They were the first girls close to her age who ignored first impressions and decided to give her a try. Ame had never had anyone give her a try before (not including Yoh, of course). It was…kind of nice.

"Yoh?"

If the voice hadn't come from right behind her, Ame would have totally missed it, it was so soft. Everyone around her stopped talking though, or moving for that matter, and Yoh spun around from where he was standing to stare at someone behind her. Ame turned to, and could have sword that for half a second, her heart stopped beating.

In the doorway stood a boy, probably around Yoh and Hao's ago, maybe a year or two younger, wearing a white yukata. His hair was a deep purple almost black color, and stood into a spike in the back, contrasting painfully with his pale as snow skin. His eyes however, were what really caught Ame's attention. They were yellow- No, not yellow, GOLD, like someone had melted down a block of gold and poured it directly into his eyes. They were dull at the moment however, as if their owner were worn down and tired.

"Ren."

Yoh was by the boy's side in a moment, giving him a gentle hug, which was softly returned, before he let go, gently smiling at the younger male.

"Ren, how are you?" Yoh asked softly.

Ren just shook his head slightly, turning his eyes to Ame.

Ame waited for him to say "is that her" or "who is she" as per usual, but instead, he just stared at her for a long moment. She didn't break the boy's gaze, and she didn't know why either. In all truth, the stare was sort of unnerving, not that she'd ever admit that out loud, and in any other situation she would have looked away. But she had the unsettling feeling that looking away would be like breaking something precious.

For the first time in a long, long time, Ame was truly confused by something she herself was thinking.

No one spoke, no one moved, as Ren extended a hand, palm up towards Ame.

"Let me show you to your room Ame." he said softly. "I'm sure you're exhausted by now, and this lot can get pretty rowdy."

Around her, Ame could feel the other's shock, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught Horohoro opening his mouth as if to protest. Ignoring all of this, Ame reached out her own hand and laid it atop Ren's.

"Please, lead the way."

Ren took her hand in his gently and turned back to the hall, and Ame followed without a second thought. Behind them, Yoh and Hao followed (Ame could tell by their footsteps), but Ame pretended they weren't there, in favor of watching where she was going so she wouldn't get lost. And partially, watching Ren's back as he lead her deep into the Asakura compound.

**oOoOo**

**A/N: **

1- No. I will NOT make her talk in the third person so STFU. God.

HAHAH! LOOK! SHE MET REN! See. Told you. *brick'd for taking this damn long in the first place*

I know I left a million blanks and loopholes in the angel explanation, I did it on purpose. It's called suspense and plot progression people. I don't like it much better than you do, trust me, but I refuse to rush into something half cocked. Then it'll just be bad.

I really wish that when you people fav, you'd comment. I feel like no one's reading this freaking fanfic, and it's starting to make me wonder if I should keep writing it. I mean, I love it, and I will, but it's quite disheartening when no one tells you if they like it or not.

*rubs forehead* Uh...Chapter five will be out soon. I can't promise how much more Imma write, but give me some props here, I'm doing a lot better than I do with a lot of my other fanfics.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five:_ First Friends

When Ame first woke up, she had no idea where she was. Last time she checked, the walls of her room were painted sickly yellow, not soft cream, and her door was…well, a door, not a rice paper screen. And she had a bed, not the futon she was currently sleeping on. After about five minutes, she realized where she was and the tenseness disappeared from her body.

Turning onto her side, Ame stared at the wall of the room that now belonged to her, thinking to herself about the events of the last four days of her life. Ame had thought that she had just about seen everything that there was to see, and that her life couldn't get much more screwy than it already was, but apparently she had been dead wrong. Somehow, she had managed to get herself into an even more confusing situation than the one she had originally been in.

She had gone from a schoolgirl, to nearly dead, to traveling to some unknown town, to where she was now. Laying here, on a futon in the room just down the hall from the Asakura twin's shared room, in the Asakura compound.

Her room was sparsely decorated, as she didn't have any belongings at the moment, save what had been in her backpack and the clothes that had been bought for her by Silva at the strip mall the day before. The clothes were now in her chest of drawers, backpack sitting on top of the chest of drawers, the only signs that someone even lived in here now. The walls were bare and the only furniture was the chest of drawers, a desk and chair, and a bookshelf up against one wall.

Ame realized, somewhere in the back of her mind that one day this room was going to look very much like she lived in it, but for right now, there was no inclination she'd ever even been in here, had she not been sleeping there. But the truth was, while the thought did come to mind, it meant nothing, really.

Ame had no idea what was going to happen today, let alone anywhere in the future. For all she knew, she could die today. The once routine filled life she had carefully led was suddenly gone instead for the uncertainty of whatever fate brought her way. So far, fate seemed to have been playing nice, but gods only knew how long that would last.

Ame's standing reputation with the fates wasn't so great, after all.

Sighing, Ame sat up and turned to stare out the window on the opposite wall. There were rice paper blinds over it, so she couldn't see the outside world so well, but she could see the light of the rising sun and assess that it was probably around six a.m. She had woken up considerably earlier than she had planned to, not that she had much choice in what her body did an did not do when it came to sleeping. She had never slept much anyway.

However, the time meant she would have to sit in her room, as quietly as possible until she heard someone else moving around. No doubt the twins were still sleeping, right along with everyone else in the compound.

Somehow, Ame's mind jumped from the twins to Ren, which in all fairness was a pretty easy progression but it happened rather fast. She blinked in confusion when she found herself thinking about the way he had held her hand up until the point they got to her room and had said good night.

Ren had seemed fragile and half-there throughout the entire experience, as if he was a lot more tired than he appeared at first glance. Through a crack in her door, Ame had caught sight of Yoh looping an arm around his waist and Hao taking his hand, like one would do with someone who could barely walk. Ame dared not ask why the younger male seemed so weak in comparison to all the other angels, instead, leaving Yoh or Hao to tell her when they thought she should know.

*Gaaaah….* Ame thought, flopping back onto her futon. *Why do I even CARE? Hell why do I care about any of them!*

'Well gee.' muttered a voice in the back of her head. 'Maybe cause you're stuck living with them until lord knows when?'

*Shut up.*

'Just sayin'.'

Ame groaned and laid her arm across her eyes.

She was stuck here until who knew when, with a bunch of ANGELS. Nothing was making sense at all right now, least of all why she suddenly couldn't get the wellbeing of a boy she met for fifteen minutes tops out of her head. Hell, Ame still wasn't quite sure why she was here at all. Yoh coming to her school, just weeks before her town would be attacked by a demon, was no coincidence.

If only someone would stop speaking in riddles and actually tell her what was going on, then maybe she could make some sense of everything. But she couldn't very well just come out and say it, she doubted it would sound too good if she just demanded to know what the shit was going on here. Besides, there was something going on here that had everyone strung out enough, they didn't need her causing trouble too.

Yes, if Yoh had thought she missed the air of uncertainty and fear around the compound, he had been sorely mistaken. Ame had noticed it the minute she stepped inside, and she had felt it intensify the closer she got to his brood. (She was guessing the teens she met the night before were at least some if not all of his brood.) What was really making her curious was Ren's involvement in it, because she could tell, just by the way everyone fell silent when he appeared, that it had something to do with him.

*Again. WHY DO I CARE?*

"Having trouble getting back to sleep?"

Lifting her arm, Ame stared at the newcomer, who she was pretty sure she'd never seen before. He was, again, around Hao or Yoh's age, with caramel skin, long dark brown hair pulled back in a plait and his eyes were a forest green color tinted stormy gray. He was quite good looking, actually, had Ame been the kind of girl who cared about such things.

"How could you tell?"

"Not many other people are up this early of their own accord, and I least expected you to be. You've been traveling for two days straight."

Ame shrugged.

"I don't sleep much, day to day. But I was hoping to get a little more shut eye than that. Oh well."

She sat up, turning towards the boy and crossing her legs.

"Considering everyone else seems to know who I am, I'm guessing I'm at the disadvantage here." The boy smirked, leaning against her doorframe and crossing his arms.

"You're right, I do know who you are." he said. "Everyone does."

Ame rolled her eyes.

"I got that by now." she said dryly. "Care to tell me who you are?"

He held out his hand.

"I'm Nickrome, a carrier from the Patch tribe."

Ame shook his hand, then paused once she had pulled back.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be related to Silva would you?" she asked.

"Got it in one, he's my cousin."

Oh, so this was the cousin Silva had mentioned. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot of similarities in appearance, but she could see them being related, sure. In all truth, if you tied back Silva's hair, he might actually look a bit more like Nickrome than like Hao. (She had realized somewhere in between meeting Hao and going to sleep that Silva looked a great deal like the twins.)

"So, considering it looks like neither of us are going back to sleep this morning, care to join me making breakfast? It gets really boring just sitting there with no one to talk to."

Ame considered it, then shrugged and stood up.

"Let me get changed." she said.

"Sure thing." he glanced over her sleeping attire. "And you know what, I think we should go shopping for you today. You can't keep sleeping in your jeans."

She sent him a half-serious glare and Nickrome just chuckled before turning around and closing her door. Turning towards her chest of drawers, Ame stared at herself in the vanity mirror and wondered blankly when that long forsaken spark of life had returned to her eyes.

.:+.+.+".

The sizzle of the frying pan as butter, then eggs were dropped onto it was a welcome sound that made Ame realize how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten since that burger yesterday and her stomach was protesting loudly against it.

When she had finished dressing (the same jeans, a black shirt and her new shoes), she had exited her room to find Nickrome standing against the wall waiting for her. He had smirked and said she was the first girl who had only taken six minutes to get ready for the day. Ame just shrugged, it wasn't like she really cared what she looked like.

He had led her to the kitchen, which was another roundabout route through the compound, but Ame figured, eh, she'd get it eventually. While Nickrome had said he wanted her to help with breakfast, he seemed to have no intention of making her do anything, because the moment she offered, he just told her to sit. Ame had ended up sitting at the counter on a stool, watching Nickrome cooking eggs and pancakes, all in the same skillet. She had to admit, this guy had some cooking skills.

"So…I think we're both at an equal disadvantage now. Care to play Quip?"

Ame raised an eyebrow.

"Quip?"

"I ask you a question, you answer but come back with your own question."

"In other words I quip…"

"Eeexactly."

Ame sat up straighter on her stool.

"Sure." she said, a bit excited. "I'd love to."

"Alright then," Nickrome licked the remnants of pancake batter off of the spatula. "I'll start. How old are you?"

"Fourteen, going on fifteen, and I'll come back at you with the same question."

"Me? Eighteen, almost nineteen."

For a second, Ame was totally confused. Hadn't Silva said Nickrome was his cousin? And Silva had also said he was OVER two centuries old. If that was so, then Nickrome had to be at LEAST that old to be related to him directly in such a way. Then, Ame noticed something that she hadn't ever thought of before. Angels never seemed to mention how many centuries (decades, however long) they had been…well, angels.

They only told the age they died, the age they became an angel.

"Did Yoh really save you from a demon?"

"Yup. I'll have to save his life in return I guess… What brood are you part of?"

"Yoh and Hao's brood, they run it together, seeing as they're twins and all. Were you ever a part of any kind of group?"

Ame shook her head.

"Not that I can ever recall, unless you mean being forced into chess club only so I could kick everyone's asses. How long have you been in the Asakura clan?"

"As long as Silva, which is a good century and a half or so. How long have you been on the run?"

At this, Ame's eyes grew distant, and she turned to stare out of the window. For a moment, she was quiet, mind elsewhere and all that could be heard was the batter sizzling in the pan as Nickrome flipped the last few pancakes.

"…I…I don't know. A long time. Perhaps long than I think." Ame murmured finally. "I THINK it's been eleven years, I think. For all I know I could have been on the run my whole life. I have no family and I have no family friends to enlighten me so…"

Ame cleared her throat and turned back to Nickrome.

"Well, here's something I've been wondering, how long can angels live? I mean, here on earth, before transcending to heaven or whatever."

Nickrome seemed to consider the question, turning off the fire and putting the pan in the stove before running water on it so the batter wouldn't stick.

"Hm, how long can we live… Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I know that should an angel's mate be mortal, then an angel will at some point start aging with them. Of course, being mortal this mate WILL die, and I'm almost positive that the angel dies with them, metaphorically speaking."

He opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice, shaking it a few times before pouring two glasses of the fruit drink.

"I believe after that an angel is face with a choice. Either they and their mate return to earth as they were at their "optimal ages" and stick around as angels until they are killed, then go to heaven, OR, after their "death" they go straight to heaven."

Opening a cupboard next, he pulled out syrup, then went back to the fridge for butter.

"You mean, once their mate dies, they can both return to earth and remain here until….uh, they die again?"

"Yup."

Ame took the plate of pancakes that was being offered to her with an air of surprise.

"Wow…that's…"

"Kinda cool?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Nickrome laughed shortly, lips curling into a smile that would have been sinister had it been anyone other than him.

"I think that was two questions you asked me, Ms. Kurotsuki. So allow me to quip back at you, how long do kitsune live?"

"No freaking clue." Ame said blandly, taking another bite of pancake.

"No lore no nothing?"

"I am utterly alone in learning about this subject and I got squat."

"Wow." he took another bite and chewed. "'At's gotta suck."

"You have NO idea…"

They sat in companionable silence for the next few minutes, eating their food at a leisurely pace. Ame found that she liked Nickrome a lot, a lot more than she had expected she would. He didn't ask truly personal questions, and he backed off when he realized that she didn't want the conversation to go any farther. His general demeanor was one of respect, though not in the over powering sense, but more in the quiet sense.

There was the sounds of someone entering the kitchen and Ame glanced behind Nickrome as he turned around. Horohoro entered the room with a yawn, hair sleep tousled and still in his pajamas (a white tee and a pair of blue-gray sweatpants). He waved half heartedly at them before sniffing the air.

"Nick, tell me you're an amazing person and were wonderful enough to make-"

"Extras in the plate by the stove, leave some for the twins."

"You're god."

"Watch it, he actually listens to our lot."

"When he's not busy fucking our lives six ways from Sunday."

"Mm, touché."

Ame raised an eyebrow through a sip of orange juice.

"I take it you guys aren't too fond of the man upstairs?"

"The MEN upstairs. And the women. There are multiple higher…thingies. All we know it that they're big, shiny, and like ordering their angels around."

"That's….informative."

"No one ever said this job made any damn SENSE."

Ame chuckled despite herself, unable to resist the urge to smile along with the two boys.

"We weren't properly introduced yesterday. I'm Horohoro Usui, seventeen, like the twins." he held out a hand. "Pleased ta meetcha."

The younger girl shook his hand.

"Ame, fourteen, I think you know just about everything else."

"Why yes I do."

They continued eating for a while longer, Horohoro slowly waking up more until he was in about the same condition as his two companions. Nickrome took his and Ame's dishes without a word and washed them, before coming back to the counter to sit with them again. When Horohoro too, had finished, the conversation started up again.

"I was thinking that Ame needed some new clothes, she doesn't really have anything, and her room is pretty bare. We can go alone, or would you like to join us Horo?"

Horohoro gulped down the last of his juice (gotten for him by Nickrome, again, without a word) and placed the cup back on the counter.

"Sure, I haven't got much else to do today. Lyserg has morning duty and Joco's on lookout so I'm pretty free."

"Morning duty…?"

Nickrome sent her a look and murmured;

"We'll tell you later." then to Horohoro. "Alright, I'll go get the car started, you get dressed."

.:+.+.+:.

It came to Ame's attention that angel's had expensive and selective taste in cars. She was currently sitting in a very slick, black racing car being driven by a very content looking Nickrome. Ame had to admit, it was a sweet ride, very pretty and very fast. Ame had a thing for fast moving vehicles, it was in her blood as a kitsune, she just couldn't help it.

"Is this your's?" she had to ask, just on principle if nothing else.

"Oh yes. DEFINITELY mine. Hao tries to steal it ninety percent of the time, but he's got like, three different cars, so I always yell at him for it."

"Actually, you sternly wag your finger at him."

"Shut up Horohoro."

Ame smirked and stared out the window. Currently, they were speeding down the highway towards the city, where she was apparently being taken for a shopping spree. She had never heard of any boy who actually VOLUNTEERED to go shopping with a girl, but these angels continued to surprise her, so she just went with it. Thankfully, of course, she wasn't the type who went hyperactive every time they saw a sale. She liked shopping, sure, just as much as the next guy, she just didn't like it THAT much.

"_Yo, VIP, Let's kick it!_

_Ice Ice Baby_

_Ice Ice Baby_

_All right stop_

_Collaborate and listen_

_Ice is back with my brand new invention_

_Something grabs a hold of me tightly_

_Flowin like a harpoon daily and nightly_

_Will it ever stop?_

_Yo-I don't know_

_Turn off the lights and I'll glow_

_To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal_

_Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle_"

Nickrome scoffed at the song blaring from the radio station that Horohoro had turned on. The bluenette was bobbing his head along to the lyrics, eyes closed, window open and arm resting on the sill.

"What? It's a good song!"

Ame let off a scoff of her own.

"This isn't even music." she muttered.

"Oh yeah? And what IS?"

Ame leaned forward over the back of Horohoro's seat and changed the channel on the radio for a few moments before settling on one with a song she knew.

"_Sit Back NowLet Me Tell You A Tale_

_Where Justice Does Not Prevail_

_About An Ill-Fated Life_

_So Very Full Of Strife_

_Where Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Right_

_SoWhen I Was Born_

_I Did Surely Scorn_

_My Proud Parent's Name_

_Then Their Lives Went Down The Drain_

_Drove Them Insane_

_My Birth Was A Curse_

_I Bit The Nurse_

_Oh, But I Love The Worst_

_I Deserve To Be Slowly Submersed_

_Dried Out Then Laid In A Hearse"_

"THIS is music?"

"It's better than what you were listening to." Ame retorted.

"I utterly disagree."

"Yeah, well, guess what?"

Both Ame and Horo looked over at Nickrome, who had reached over to the radio. Turning to his blue haired fellow angel, he smirked, and slowly turned up the volume, just to annoy him.

"I'm the driver, so I pick the music."

And he turned it up to earsplitting volume, just so Horohoro would jump (which he did) and curse loudly. Ame couldn't help the urge to cackle in the back seat, clapping her hands together as she did. It had been a long time since something had made her laugh. A really, really, really long time, in fact. Perhaps years, she couldn't quite recall.

Regardless, Nickrome laughed away with her before starting to sing along with the chorus of the song. Ame joined in, simply on the principle that Nickrome's voice was really, really very pretty, for lack of a better term, like and angels. Which, Ame realized, just a second after thinking it, was, pretty much the stupidest pun ever.

Begrudgingly, Horohoro joined them in singing, and pretty soon all three of them were laughing and singing along to the (rather creepy) song. It was then that Ame decided that she really liked these two angels.

'Congratulations, you just made your first friends on your own without provocation.'

Ame smirked to herself. She wondered if Yoh was the type to get jealous easily.

.:+.+.+:.

It was a good few hours before Ame was ever sitting down again and when she finally did, it was to collapse into a restaurant booth opposite the two males she had been shopping with. Her head fell onto her arms on the table with a loud groan.

"Never. Shopping. Again."

Horohoro laughed loudly.

"It's not THAT bad!"

"Totally is. Especially stores like JC Penny."

"I already said sorry for dragging you in there!"

While shopping on a whole had been rather enjoyable, for the first time in her life, I might add, there had been a few mishaps along the way. One of them had been a misstep in one of the small chain malls they had randomly dropped into that took them from the middle of Zumies to JC Penny. Ame had pretty much freaked (pink was not her friend) and the boys had quickly shared her sentiments, unfortunately, preps can smell an attractive male miles away.

Talk about piranhas. They had CONVERGED on Nickrome and Horohoro and it had taken every ounce of the triad's strength to get away. (Loosely translated: Run screaming for their lives into the nearest Hot Topic where the clerk was kind enough to slam the doors before the fan girls could follow them any farther.)

"Not like you MEANT to get lost." Nickrome said. "But yeah. Never again Horohoro. NEVER AGAIN."

"THEY JUMPED ME TOO YA KNOW!"

Ame half heartedly threw a salt shaker at them.

"Shut up and get me food."

Fifteen minutes later and they had a plethora of different diner foods just waiting to be eaten in front of them. Ame was pleased to see she wasn't the only one sighing with relief after the first bite of burger. Save the pancakes they had had that morning, at maybe seven a.m., they hadn't eaten all day. It was around five o'clock now.

For a while, the triad remained silent before Ame put her cup down and looked at the, a question in her eyes. Unsurprisingly, Nickrome noticed first, putting the fry he was about to eat down and looking back at her.

"Yes Ame? Is something wrong?"

Ame shook her head.

"Not…not wrong." she said. "I just…this is all still really knew to me, and I still have some things I'm trying to work out."

"Well, we're here to help so c'mon, what's going on?"

With a sigh, Ame launched into the first of a thousand questions she had.

"Who else is in your brood? I know you guys are, the other boys we met yesterday and Silva, but who else? Silva said the brood was large because it was a large clan, but this is already kind of big."

Horohoro swallowed a mouthful of whatever he had been eating.

"There are a couple more members." he said, taking a swig of soda. "Not too many, but a few. They're all older than us though."

"Older by what, angel or human years?"

"Uh….Both. Wait, no, there's another mortal. He's younger than us."

"No shit."

She took a sip of her vanilla shake, before asking another question.

"Why do you always say the age when you…became an angel? Why don't you ever say how OLD you are?"

Nickrome chuckled.

"Ah, you don't have to sugar coat it Ame, we generally refer to ourselves as the age at which we died. It's not a sensitive subject, not by now anyway."

"Well I TRIED."

"And thanks for that. Honestly? The truth of it is, because we angels don't really age, we never get older."

And now Ame was confused again.

"But…Silva said he's been alive for over two centuries…"

"He has. He's been around about… 270 years I think."

If it had been in her nature, Ame would have gaped.

"See, here's the thing Ame. We die, to become what we are, once we die, we stop growing older. We are forever the age at which we died, even as we live longer and longer, even as centuries pass, we will never grow a year older."

"What about when you age, if your mate is mortal and all…"

"That's just our bodies aging, WE aren't getting any older."

Ame processed this for a minute over a few bites of potato salad (that really wasn't bad at all).

"So…how long have you two been…around?" Ame wasn't totally sure how she was supposed to word it.

Nickrome laughed and earned a withering look for his trouble.

"I'm about 260." he said, still smiling softly. "I died not too long after Silva, we ARE actually directly related. And Horohoro's about 220."

Ame sighed dejectedly.

"So no matter how we look at it, I'm still the youngest. Wonderful."

This time both boys laughed and Ame threw fries at them until they shut up. She realized, blandly, that this was actually the closest she had ever come to hanging out with friends, or acting like a normal teenager for that matter. It was…odd, to say the least. Nice, fun even, but most definitely odd. Ame had never had any friends, at least not before mister "imma-stick-to-you-like-GLUE-an-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it" Asakura.

Another half hour went by and the burgers, fries and assorted other diner munchies gave way to a group of deserts which Horohoro insisted they get and sample all of. Then again, Nickrome hadn't exactly been complaining as he eyed the chocolate crème cake, so Ame figured she might as well allow herself to be subjected to further foods. What was the harm?

As they ate, another question came to mind.

"Uhm….Hey, Horohoro?"

He looked up from the éclair he was devouring.

"Mm-hm?"

"That…boy yesterday…they one in the yukata who took me to my room…Ren, I think you called him…What's wrong with him…?"

Nickrome looked up sharply, but Horohoro seemed to remain calm. It was a short reverse of personalities that Ame hadn't been expecting, and she wondered if she had said something wrong. Ren seemed to be a touchy subject, even when she first met him. …If you could call that meeting.

"So you noticed." Horo said calmly. "I didn't think you would."

"Notice what? That something's completely off about him? Yeah, HARD to miss."

The bluenette shrugged.

"Not for a lot of people, only those who really know him even saw it. But, then again, you're not like most people, are you?"

"No." Ame conceded. "Not really."

Horohoro sighed, leaning back in his seat and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Ren is…he's the youngest one in our brood, the baby of the flock, I guess. The twins, well, the twins are super close to him, sometimes they even call him baby brother. Anyway, a couple months ago…something happened. Something really, REALLY bad." he glared at the table top, looking positively furious. "It's not my place to tell you, but I can tell you this, when the twins get their hands on whoever did it; I hope they either like pain, or can run, really, really, REALLY fucking fast."

Nickrome looked just as angry as Horohoro, only he was masking it better, taking another bite of his cake, even though the grip on his fork was almost white knuckled.

"And…the way he was acting yesterday….all…spacey… Is he usually like that…?"

"Not at all." Nickrome said smoothly. "Usually, Ren's pretty stubborn and sarcastic, he's really good at holding his own. Most of the time he comes off as moody and cold, but once you get to know him he's a loyal friend, if a bit snappy."

"So, what was up with yesterday…?"

"Ah…Ren's been undergoing a couple rituals to…" here Horohoro paused and Ame held up a hand.

"To take care of whatever happened, I gotcha, keep going. No details necessary."

He smiled gratefully and continued;

"And some of these rituals make one pretty spacey and sleepy."

"Then why wasn't he sleeping?"

"Oh, uh…"

Nickrome chortled softly.

"Ren has a knack for being drawn towards new and interesting people, specifically those who have been through extreme hardships. It's sort of like he's an empath, but only for those who have been damaged." he paused. "Does that make ANY sense?"

"Considering it sounds like you're talking from experience, definitely."

Horohoro had called for the check while they were talking and he now slipped a credit card into the pouch and handed the thing back to the waitress.

"Wait till they bring it back, then we'll get going. 'S getting late and traffics gonna be a bitch as is."

"And you never told the twins where we were going." Nickrome said blandly.

"….Shit I didn't?"

"Nope."

"…..Oh god I'm gonna be filleted."

"I have NOOO doubt."

Ame rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you guys taking me for a day won't piss them off THAT badly."

"You would be surprised."

The check returned and Horohoro signed and took his card back before standing to leave. A few minutes later, they were back outside and getting into the car, loading their bags into the trunk and back seat. Ame had called shot gun next to Nickrome, so Horohoro was stuck in back with the bags. They drove off to the sounds of Green Day's "21 Guns" blaring from the radio, and Ame didn't think she had had this much fun in her whole life.

**oOoOo**

**A/N: **

The two songs are "Vanilla Ice" and "Such Horrible Things". YAY FOR CREEPY ASS SONGS.

*pokes Nickrome* Yeah...I like him too much to keep him out of the story. And besides, I think he'll make a good older brother/best friend for Ame. And 'sides, SOMEONE needs to keep the twins under control. xP DEAL WITH MY UNENDING LOVE OF THE PATCH TRIBE. ...OR MOST OF THEM ANYWAY.

Yes, I never ellaborated on "morning duty". I DID IT ON PURPOSE. Ya know, contrary to popular belief, I do these things on purpose. ITS CALLED SUSPENSE PEOPLE.

Hopefully more Ren next chapter...only...

HELLATUS TIIIIIIIIIIEM.

THAT'S RIGHT. This story is going on **Hiatus**! INDEFINITELY!

*is attakced by her Opacho* !

Ame: ...That leaves me to finish up then. Summer vacation has officially begun for us, but Blood's aunt is coming for ten days (starting today, actually). I don't know how long that will leave us to write, but Blood also has a lot of updating to do on her other stories, like Sisterhood for example. She's not abandoning the story, just taking a break.  
So calm the hell down.

WE LOVE YOU ALL! *running from her Opacho*

Ame: =_= *siiiiiiigh*


End file.
